


The Trouble With Tatooine

by Scribe32oz



Series: Tales of the Republic [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Action & Romance, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Jabba's Palace, Pod racing, Space Flight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-08 22:18:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 54,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14703585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribe32oz/pseuds/Scribe32oz
Summary: When infamous gang lord Jabba the Hutt requires the services of the best star pilot in the galaxy, his search ultimately leads him to Buck Wilmington. Unfortunately, it would only take the best pilot in the galaxy to cross the treacherous area of space known as the Maw and Buck's not willing to risk himself over such a dangerous venture .  But Jabba doesn't like to lose and when he takes JD hostage in exchange for Buck's cooperation, its up to the rest of the seven to come to the rescue.





	1. The Maw

 

What had he been thinking? 

He thought this would prove him to be the best there was. He thought once he made this run, he would be known throughout the galaxy as the undisputed king of the space ways. After all, flying was in his blood. From the first skip runner he had ever taken up, to the Republic fighters that came after her received his commission, he knew he was destined never to be grounded. Those who saw him at the controls of a ship called him gifted. Perhaps it was true but at this moment, he wished his gift had been tempered with a little common sense. Unfortunately, he had never been able to walk away from a dare and when he entered that tavern in Almania, spouting off how he was the best, it was only a matter of time before someone threw down the gauntlet of challenge. 

And as always, he was eager to pick it up, never considering the consequences beforehand. 

Well he was considering them now.

In the situation he presently found himself in, there was nothing he could do but consider it. It would have helped if he had given the matter some thought before he embarked on this voyage. Unfortunately at the time, he had been so fired up to prove his prowess, it never occurred to him being the best was also knowing when to pull back when the odds were against him. He set out to conquer the challenge offered to him, without even giving second thought to what he would be facing until he was knee deep in trouble with no recourse but to go ahead because he had gone too far to turn back. 

At the moment, tremendous gravitational forces were threatening to strip the hull from the superstructure of his small fighter. The controls were fighting him hard as he struggled to maintain the course he laid out in the nav computer prior to making this dangerous attempt. While space was meant to be a vacuum devoid of sound, he could almost hear the roaring vortex beyond the canopy of his ship. Of course, he could see none of it even though every instrument in the cockpit registered the presence of the cluster. Angry red lights were flashing from every gauge and counter, telling him what his brain was already doing so by the secretions of fear spreading throughout his body, that he ought to get out of here while he still could.

Unfortunately, he had gone too far for such an easy exit from his present crisis. He had to maintain the course he set for his small fighter and ride out the storm he ventured into. It was the only way he could survive this expression of egotistical foolishness. He felt beads of sweat trickle down his forehead, further plastering his hair to his skin underneath his helmet. He was scared and he was not afraid to admit it. A man could not venture into this place and not be anything but a little frightened unless he was a fool. There was plenty to be afraid. The kind of death he risked was a fate he would not wish for anyone.

For years, Buck Wilmington thought the Maw to be old spaceman’s legend, like the bogeyman who frightened children at night, the Maw was its equivalent for budding young star pilots with more bluster then sense. Later on, after he become a pilot with the Republic Fleet, he learned it was anything but a myth. The Maw was real and to pilots who wanted to prove themselves, it was the ultimate test of skill. Unfortunately, it was a test no one had yet to pass.

Having no wish to be counted as an Imperial with the political upheavals taking place galaxy wide, Buck left the Fleet to go into business for himself. He had his severance pay and quite a bit saved up for the purchase of an Incom Corsair, a dealer in Sluis Van was willing to sell him when he got to Coruscant from the outer worlds. Pure chance had made him stop in Almania where he had entered a discussion about the Maw and somehow allowed himself to get dared into making the run. The Maw was one of those places even experienced pilots were smart enough to avoid. It was similar in treachery to the Kessel Run and no one had made a successful attempt of  _that_  either. Buck should have walked away from that Rodian Nardo but the slaver/smuggler had been so obnoxious Buck was eager to knock him down a peg or two. 

In retrospect, Buck had to wonder who had knocked who down exactly. 

The Maw was easily one of the most treacherous areas of space in the entire galaxy. It was a galactic blind spot, devoid of stars, planets or any other solid astronomical bodies. It was region of space almost 100 light years across, running parallel to the Hydian Way and existed between the Almanian and Yavin star systems. Its principle feature, was a cluster of super black holes. All spaced in relatively close proximity to each other, the gravitational forces running rife through the region ensured that hyperspace was virtually impossible to maintain because of the stresses put on the dimensional bubble required to travel at faster than light speed. Theoretically, the only way to make it through this spatial mine field was to set an automated course that would allow a ship to skim the edge of every event horizon it reached the other side. To deviate from the course set, even by a parsec would see a ship being sucked into the heart of whichever singularity had strongest claim to it.

Buck declared it was not impossible. It  could be done even though many had died in the attempt. When he set out for the Maw, he honestly believed he could successfully make navigate through it but now, as he found himself fighting his ship to hold course, he knew better. It was not the dying that frightened him so much but rather the way he would see his end. If he became trapped in a black hole, he would have no idea of it at all. Time itself slowed down once past the event horizon, those trapped would be oblivious until they reached the singularity and then there would be no time at all to do anything but be crushed into an orifice, no wider than an atom.

The small Republic fighter he had borrowed from Fleet command to take him to Sluis Van was heaving in protest all around him. The astrodroid sitting in its slot at the rear of the ship attempted to repair the damage caused from all the stress the ship was being subjected to. Buck was fighting the controls with every ounce of strength he had. The ship’s natural inclination was to follow the powerful currents leading it to a black hole he could not even seen but instrumentation assured him was there. He was more than half way through but his ship was taking a tremendous pounding. Buck felt the muscles in his hands strain as he forced the throttle to remain where it was, even as the ship veered towards the intense gravitational pull of multiple black holes. His problem was not only becoming trapped in the currents of one but being ripped apart by many others at the same time. 

"I know we have to get out here!" Buck swore at the astrodroid when it screeched its panic at him. The small screen at the base of the cockpit translated the litany of hoots and whistles into an understandable language.

"Divert more power to the engines." Buck ordered.

 A return hoot indicated his RU20 unit had a problem with that request.

"I don’t care where you get it from!" Buck returned sharply. "Take it from auxiliary power if you have to. I only need enough life support power to get to Yavin, so you can tap into that as well." 

A series of beeps and whistles followed by the translation on the screen indicated the astrodroid had complied with his demand and the controls became a little easier to manage but not by much.

"I don’t know what I was thinking of." Buck spoke out loud. "If I get myself killed, Inez is never going to forgive me."

R20 bleeped a response unaware his master was not talking to him.

Buck read the words and growled. "Yes I know it won’t matter when I’m dead but you don’t know Inez."

Suddenly the throttle almost tore itself out of his hands when the ship shuddered violently. He heard something rip through his ship like paper and Buck saw the warning lights on his screen reach a new level of urgency, as all systems began flashing a condition red breach. It took him a few seconds to regain attitude control and maintain course but it was the longest seconds of his life.  

"R20! What happened?" 

There was no answer.  

Buck craned his neck around as far as it could and saw a gapping hole where the astrodroid was normally nestled. Wires and metal had been torn from the hull and there was no sign of R20. Buck felt his heart sink as he realised the dependable little android was most likely on its way to the heart of a singularity and wondered how long it would be before his master joined him… 


	2. Mating Rancors

Billy Travis had never met a Jedi.

He knew what they were though. His grandpa read stories to him about brave Jedis who went off to face all kinds of dangerous adventures, fighting for justice and freedom throughout the galaxy. In the mind of a six-year-old, the Jedi was as close to a fairy tale creation as one could ever get. He had fallen asleep listening to tales filled with awe and wonder and took him to equally amazing places in his dreams. The Jedi had strange powers and they knew things other people did not and when the Jedi used the Force, it was like magic.

His father, whose memory was becoming vague in his mind these days, seemed to come alive most when Billy remembered the bedtime stories he used to tell about the Jedi. It was only after Billy went to live with his grandfather Orin on Bakura, did he understand his father had been read those same stories as a child. Billy knew the Jedi had gone away, Something bad happened and they suddenly disappeared like the last drop of water in a well. It saddened him but then Billy still had the stories and when one was six, the stories were quite enough. 

When Uncle Josiah brought him to see his mother, Billy had been met at the hangar by a tall, blond man, dressed in black whom everyone seemed a little in awe of if not a little afraid as well. Billy did not deny he felt a similar feeling of fear when he stared at Chris Larabee for the first time, with his imposing manner and his hard eyes. However, Billy saw the light sabre hanging off his belt and realised his escort to see his mother was none other than a Jedi. A real life Jedi! Still, Chris was not what he expected a Jedi to be but Billy soon came to the conclusion he was better. Unlike the Jedis who had to run off and fight enemies all the time, this Jedi spent time with him. He showed Billy his light sabre and told him real things about Jedi, not just stories but things Billy knew happened.

Billy also liked how this Jedi could make his mother smile.

The lesson he learned first and foremost in his life was his mother was an important person. She was not like regular moms. There was something about his ma that made her extra special. Granted Billy did not get to see her much and grandpa Orin explained why that was but Billy wished she were not always so sad. Ever since his father went away, the young boy noticed that most of all about the mother he adored. The sadness in her eyes she did not speak of, even when she was with him. Sometimes, Billy wondered if whether looking at him made his ma sad though he could not imagine why.  

However, when he came to visit her at the rebel base, a thing he had never been allowed to do, he realised the Jedi made his ma smile and for that alone, Billy loved Chris Larabee. For the month following his arrival, if he was not with his ma, he was with Chris although Chris gave him the same look of sadness too, although not very often. Billy wondered whether it was just a grown up thing. Thanks to the surrounding forests around Siraj 2, Chris took him fishing and sometimes, they would just sit on the grass and Chris would use his magic to bring some of the animals to them. The more benign creatures that roamed the forests seemed to know they were in no danger and Billy remembered with delight how a wood sprite deer had come right up to him and let him touch her furry pelt before bouncing away.

"Ma, you think Chris will win?" Billy asked as he sat on Mary's lap.

Mother and son were seated on the floor with a good many other members of the Rebel Alliance base on Siraj 2. Everyone was gathered inside the confines of the empty berth, the venue Chris Larabee and Vin Tanner often used for their sparring sessions, eager to watch the proceedings. There was very little to do in the way of entertainment and it surprised Mary how many people come to watch the Jedi and his apprentice training. Neither Chris nor Vin seemed to mind the intrusion since the atmosphere was generally one of good-natured fun even though the training between the two combatants seemed very serious indeed.

"I don't think its a matter of winning Billy," Mary responded. "This is a training session so Vin can get the feel of what it's like to be fighting an opponent."

"Come on Chris, kick that bounty hunter's butt!" Alexandra Styles hollered as she sat next to Mary and Billy. 

Mary turned around and gave her best friend a look. "Lex, was that entirely necessary?" 

Alex smiled broadly and faced front again. "Absolutely necessary." 

Vin Tanner paused long enough to meet her gaze from the center of the berth, his eyes narrowing enough to let her know he would get her for that remark later on before he faced Chris again.  

"You okay with this?" Chris Larabee asked Vin as he took note of the people around them. When he had asked Mary the use of one of the empty berths, he had certainly not expected to get an audience as well.  

"I'm fine." Vin replied sincerely. "I don't mind embarrassing myself in front of a whole bunch of people." The former bounty hunter drawled. "Besides, I get the feeling things are a little too tense around here lately, the distraction even at my expense can't be bad." 

Chris knew exactly what Vin meant. The Empire had been persistently combing the Territory the past few weeks in an attempt to find the rebel base in Wild Space. Ships were forced to remain grounded to prevent any Imperial probes from detecting their departure. Also reports were filtering in from across the galaxy regarding the effects of the segregation policyPalpatine had pushed through the Senate. Whole races were being sold into slavery and the Rebel Alliance was feeling the sting of helplessness because it was still too fledgling a movement to be able to stop any of it. Morale was low, not only in this base but everywhere else in the Alliance, 

"Okay," Chris replied. "Let me know if I'm a little too hard on you." The Jedi could not resist adding, a little smile at the end of his question. 

"Yeah right," Vin retorted as he removed his light sabre from his belt.  

Chris shifted his gaze to Billy and Mary who were watching him from where they were seated. Upon making eye contact with the Billy, the boy immediately waved at Chris and brought an unseen flush of warmth into the Jedi's heart that almost equalled what he felt for Billy's mother. Winking at Billy, Chris activated the light sabre in his hand. Behind him, he could hear the hum at the coming to life of Vin's weapon. Chris held his breath and listened, an eternity of time moving by in a flicker of a second. He swung around just in time to meet Vin's blade. 

The sounds of clanging lightsabres echoed through the berth as Jedi and apprentice faced each other in friendly combat. Vin was young and he was raw but he was also, Chris decided,  _very_  good. A fear years of experience under his belt and he would be hard to beat. If there was a still Jedi Order left to make the comparison, Vin would have undoubtedly become a great Jedi but of course, now they would never know. Chris shook such distractions out of his mind as he saw Vin recover from his latest attack to leap above his head and land behind him. Chris kicked out a leg and instant before the apprentice landed, planting it in Vin's sternum the minute the Jedi apprentice touched solid ground and swung again as the young man reeled back.  

Vin struggled under Chris's offensive for a few minutes until he managed to regain his balance, then they met each other blow for blow. Their movements were graceful, like two dancers moving in tandem with beams of light. Vin returned his kick with one Chris was able to side step easily. Although Vin was learning fast, he still had the earmarks of a novice when it came to fighting with a light sabre. Eventually, when his confidence grew, these little flaws would disappear but for the moment it was the purpose of these sessions to pinpoint those weaknesses and weed them out. Vin swung wide and Chris sent him reeling once again, this time not even requiring actually striking. All it took was a little focus on Chris's part and Vin's feet were swept from under him. He tumbled to the floor, his sabre flying and it took him a split second to retrieve it before could defend himself against Chris who was coming at him again. 

"You were doing okay for an apprentice." Chris chuckled as he approached. 

"Oh really?" Vin retorted. "I wouldn't be too quick to count me out, I'm not done yet." The apprentice smiled as Chris came for him and for a moment Chris was uncertain of why Vin seemed so satisfied until he felt his senses tingling with caution. The Jedi turned around just in time see an empty crate, one of many that occupied the corner of berth, levitating towards him. He had a split second to admire the tactic before the object slammed into him and sent him flying to the ground, landing roughly beside Vin. Both men remained seated in the same position for a few minutes as the cheering and clapping at their friendly match dissipated.

"Not bad." Chris gave Vin a look as he shifted from his unceremonious landing site on the floor and flinched at the sliver of pain running up his spine. "Sneaky." 

"Thanks," Vin muttered pushing himself to his feet, with aches of equal intensity running through his body as he offered Chris a helping hand up. "Besides, I had to do something to look good in front of Alex."

Chris glanced at the exotic beauty seated next to Mary. The rebel operative had been injured during the ill-fated attempt to rescue Stephen Travis from the Black Sun and spent her convalescence at the rebel base. Although she claimed she was still tender from her severe wounds, Chris believed her reason for remaining had largely to do with her deep friendship with Mary Travis. With the death of Stephen still so fresh in Mary's psyche, Alex was not about to abandon her best friend in the world when she was needed the most. Mary needed someone around her who remembered she was more than just Commander Travis and she was someone who wept and grievedlike everyone else. 

"You really go for the difficult ones don't you?" Chris asked as Vin and Alex made eye contact across the floor and the look she gave him was anything but friendly, more like a derisive smirk. 

"She's crazy about me. She's just in denial." He turned to Chris with a grin.

Of course, his absolute certainty of this fact was due to the memory of the kiss they exchanged when she had come to his quarters, trying to distract him so she and Mary could escape the base and rescue Stephen without being stopped. Everything about that kiss told Vin, it had been more than just an attempt at deception. For an instant of time, they felt a connection neither could explain or ingore. He was convinced if he could just get her to admit how she felt about him, it would be wonderful for both of them. Unfortunately, Alex was stubborn and that which he loved about her could also be damned infuriating.  

Still, Chris was right, he  _did_  love the difficult ones.

"If you say so pard," Chris laughed, not about to argue with Vin when it came to Alex. For some reason, his normally level headed and unflappable friend lost all good sense when it came to any discussion about the lovely operative. Of course, one only needed to sense the emotions emanating from the young Jedi to know just how deeply he felt about her.

"Chris!" Billy bounded into his arms, full of cheerful enthusiasm, ahead of Mary.

Chris immediately picked up the small child into his arms and continued walking as he carried him. It was astonishing, this spark of life Billy was capable of engendering inside him. Sometimes, it was so powerful Chris could hardly breathe because it was like he had found Adam all over again and at other times, when he was forced to remember that Mary's son was not his, it also felt like he had lost Adam all over again.  

"You just let Vin win didn't you?" Billy asked as he stared at Chris with nothing less than worship.

"Thanks." Vin gave the boy a look, not at all offended because the child obviously adored Chris.  

"That's what Aunt Lex says." Billy replied innocently. 

"Lex!" Mary who was walking towards them exclaimed. "Would you please stop teaching my son such bad habits?"

"Damn," Alex chuckled, "I guess I'll have to wait until he's just a little older to explain what  _else_  you can do with chocolate sauce." The comment escaped her with a thoroughly devious glint in her eye following it. 

"You can show me." Vin caught the tail end of that remark and could not resist adding.

 "Sure I will," Alex glared at him sweetly. "When you drop dead." 

"Ouch!" He smiled.

"That looked painful," Mary replied as they all started out of the berth once joining Chris and Vin. "Are both of you alright?" 

"Its just a little bit of sparring." Chris explained. "Scratches and bruises are apart of the learning process."

"Well it didn't look like sparring." Mary remarked, not wanting to tell him after how she found him following his battle with Darth Vader, Mary could never consider his duels with a light sabre as anything but lethal. Until she saw him with Vin a moment ago, Mary had not realised how much finding him that way affected her. She knew what was at the heart of it of course. After losing Stephen only a month ago, Mary knew she was deathly afraid of having Chris disappear out of her life too. If it were not for him and Alex, she honestly did not know how she would have made it through the last month and it pleased her so much her son adored the Jedi Knight. When she saw both of them together, it made her feel as if some semblance of her world was not completely shattered. 

"I'll get him next time." Vin said with a wry smile. "Once I get past being a greenhorn, that is."

 "We wait with abated breath for the day." Alex returned sarcastically.

 "You two are like mating rancors." Mary shook her head.  

"You see," Vin put his arm around Alex' shoulder. "They know you're crazy about me."

 "There's a difference between driven crazy and being crazy." She glared at him and shoved his hand off her.

 "I'm out of here." Chris groaned and hastened his pace to put some distance between himself and the inevitable lovers. 

"I don't blame you," Mary laughed as she hurried up to catch up with Chris and her son. Unsurprisingly, neither Vin or Alex made any move to join them and Mary suspected  their displays were often just facades they wore for the benefit of others, mostly to protect their own growing feelings for each other coming under too much scrutiny. 

"They're incorrigible," Mary sighed as she and Chris walked out of the berth, leaving Vin and Alex behind.

"They're in love." Chris said plainly.

"You think?" Mary glanced over her shoulder and saw the duo still engaged in a heated argument, which she had absolutely no doubt they were both enjoying immensely. 

"I know." A little smile crossed his face as he made that statement. 

"Does that mean Aunt Lex and Vin are gonna be married?" Billy asked.

 "If they don't kill other first." Mary said dryly.

 "Have you heard from Buck?" Chris asked, changing the subject before Billy start asking question they would not be able to answer.  

"Not as yet." She answered, her voice changing from Mary to Commander Travis. The change was so subtle and yet unmistakable when it happened. Chris marvelled at the duality of the roles she played, mother, woman, friend to iron willed warrior. She was an enigma that astonished him at times. "He's still on Kashyyyk with JD and Josiah." 

With the segregation policy now in full effect, Kashyyyk, the Wookie home world was finding itself especially vulnerable since the Empire considered the race perfect for hard labour. The _Rogue_ had been charged to take Josiah Sanchez to the leaders of  Kashyyyk in order to discuss how the Rebel Alliance might be of aid to the natives who had very real fears about being taken into slavery. In truth, the Alliance could do little to prevent the implementation of the policy but they might be able to offer aid in intelligence reports and target slavers who might take advantage of it. 

"I hope he doesn't get into any trouble." Chris muttered, knowing how volatile Buck could be when it came to the issue of slavery, not that he was fond of it either but Buck seemed to take it personally, especially after how he happened upon JD Dunne.  

"He won't." Mary assured him. "He's dropping of Josiah and coming straight back here. How much trouble could he get into in hyperspace?"

"You don't know Buck." Chris replied, feeling something at the edge of his consciousness that felt ominous and foreboding.

Something was coming at them and Chris feared whatever it was, at the heart of it would be Buck Wilmington.


	3. Gammorr

Buck did not like Gamorr much.

If it were not for the fact the Rogue developed engine trouble on its return journey from Kayyyshk, Buck would have found no reason to land on this planet. It was not that he had any personal dislike of Gamorr or Gamoreans in general, but the race had a tendency to be drawn to quick profit. Since he and his ship were on the high side of an Imperial wanted list, Buck knew it was only a matter of time before some Gamorean tried to cash in on their presence here. At the moment, he and JD were making use of the maintenance facilities provided by the spaceport where their ship was presently berthed. Even though Buck had opted to land the _Rogue_ at one of the smaller trading posts, he was still uneasy.

He supposed he had been this way ever since joining the rebellion as more than just a courier. Despite himself, Buck knew he still had some unresolved issues at being forced to give up his carefree existence of starship captain. Logically, Buck accepted at the time it could not be helped, but lately, he was wondering if perhaps, he had not made a mistake to throw his lot in with the rebellion as completely he had. Unfortunately, the die was now cast and he was trapped in their service, unable to go anywhere else. For a pilot who saw the stars as his playground, it was a savagely narrow cage he found himself inhabiting these days.

Fortunately, the young man who presently replacing the power coupling to the deflector shield modulator was one of the reasons why Buck tolerated his tenure in the rebellion instead of heading into deep space, beyond the reach of either the rebellion or the Empire. JD Dunne had rekindled something inside of him that was reminded Buck of what it was to be young. Thanks to the younger man, Buck's friendship with Chris Larabee had improved because Buck no longer felt the need to save Chris from himself when JD required his guidance. JD had arrived in his life at the point where Buck had been ready to give up on Chris but as always, the Jedi had surprised Buck by finding salvation on his own.

In some ways, they were closer now then they had even been, because both men had realised their friendship could never be what it once was Thanks to JD, Buck was okay with that.

There was little more than an hour of work left to be done on the _Rogue_ and Buck was wasting no time in getting it done. JD too seemed to realise the importance of getting the repairs completed even though Buck sensed the young man would have liked to take a look at  Gamorr. Not that there was much to see in Buck’s opinion, the Gamoreans were not the most attractive race as far as female company was concerned. The women of the species would consider Buck a child and he was the tallest among the seven.

They would probably consider JD a snack.

Besides, the places that had a more varied range of females were probably the same places he and JD would do well to stay away from. In a matter of hours, they would be back at the rebel base and JD could continue his passionate  _non-interest_ in Casey Wells.

Such thoughts inevitably brought him to Inez and once again, Buck felt that bubble of jealousy he knew he had no right to feel. She was not his wife any more, he told himself repeatedly, even taking on the tone Chris used to make that point so succinctly. Ezra was a good man and Buck could tell the Imperial captain had no intention of trifling with her feelings. Buck could not even bring himself to imagine she might be in love with the suave and charming commander of Cordoba Base because it would rip the heart out of him.

There were many things he regretted in his life but none as much as agreeing to go their separate ways when things had gotten bad between them. He knew it then that he had been making a mistake because he still loved her. No matter what the arguments and the changes in their lives, that much had remained consistent. He loved her then and he loved her still.

The odd thing was, he did not know how much until she had started turning towards Ezra.

"Hey Buck," JD spoke up, stepping out from the underside of the _Rogue's_ hull. "I'm done."

Buck blinked and remembered he was supposed to be working on the hyperdrive converter and immediately put the finishing touches to the device before sliding its casing back into place.

"So am I." He responded and emerged from the compartment before dropping down onto the floor of the berth. He wiped the sweat from his brow and strode to meet JD. "I say we grab something to eat and get the hell out of here. I think there's some place to eat in the space port."

"You sure?" JD looked at him, aware of how anxious Buck was to get off Gamorr. The younger man had a feeling whatever was bothering Buck was not simply the fact they had to make an unscheduled stop here. He noticed something in the big man's manner of late, which indicated he had something on his mind he was not about to tell JD. JD could not blame him of course. Even the youth was not blind to his lack of experience. However, he did find it odd why Buck was not talking to Chris or perhaps even Vin.

"Something wrong Buck?" JD asked as they stared towards the hangar door.

"What makes you ask?" Buck returned self consciously, unaware his mood was reflected in his manner. He always tried to hide how he felt especially in front of JD because Buck and Chris shared the same opinion that their feelings were no one’s business but their own, except that he was not above talking about it when it was clearly needed.

"You seem kind of out of it." JD remarked and seemed a little nervous about asking. "I mean if you don’t want to talk to me about it, I understand. I know I’m just a kid and all, well at least to you."

Buck wondered if that innocent farm boy routine was exactly what it was or was JD craftier than he looked. His statement had the desired effect of making Buck feel guilty enough to consider taking JD into his confidence. He hoped it was the former.

"It ain’t nothing serious." Buck said first and foremost. "I’m just feeling a little down about what I’m doing with myself these days. It wasn’t my idea to join the rebellion full time you know."

JD nodded in understanding; perfectly aware of how Buck’s life could sometimes spiral out of control.  His need to lend a helping hand was what often precipitated the sweeping changes in his life. JD entered his life because Buck refused to sit by and let him become the property of a Rodian slaver. It was the same good intentions that forced Buck to embark on the mission to save Nathan Jackson following their first meeting. Nathan’s capture by Imperial agents had been the catalyst to force Buck into expanding his role with the Rebellion. 

"I know how you feel." JD replied, drawing from his own experiences in order to let Buck know in part, he understood. "I mean I never thought I’d be where I am now when I left Odete, although if it weren’t for you I’d probably in the Rim some where, as someone’s slave."

"You would done fine." Buck answered, giving JD a warm look of affection. "I just stopped you from making a bad mistake. At your age, as green as you were back then, you were more than a little entitled to make one. I can tell you of a couple of dumb things I did when I was your age. Dumber in fact that you can possibly imagine."

"I don’t know," JD flashed Buck a mischievous grin. "If I listen to Chris right, I can imagine quite a bit."

Buck frowned and reminded himself to have a few words with the Jedi when he saw the man again. Ruining his reputation with his young companion had consequences, especially ones involving four women and a weeklong orgy in Coruscant when the Jedi was not as disciplined as he was now. Buck allowed himself a vicious smile when he considered how Chris would like it if he told Mary  _that_  story. The opportunity to amuse himself at Chris’s expense came to an end when the doors to the berth slid open just before the two men reached it.

Standing there, along with two armed and heavy set and Gamorreans, was Nardo, the Rodian slaver/smuggler Buck often crossed swords with in the past. Buck went for his side arm immediately but Nardo was more than prepared for resistance and had drawn before the doors even slid open.

"Hello Weelmington." The Rodian hissed, his tapering snout twitching as he spoke.

"Nardo." Buck said coldly, exuding calm even and abandoned any attempt to retrieve his weapon.

"Its good to see you again Weelmington," Nardo answered in a sinister tone and then turned his green skinned head towards JD. "Hello pup."

"Who you calling pup?" JD snapped angrily.

"You’re just a pup." Nardo sneered, enjoying being in a position of power over the two men, in particular Buck. He turned around and faced the star pilot after a second of waiting to see if JD would react and giving him the excuse to shoot. When JD kept his head, Nardo felt a surge of disappointment at being robbed of the pleasure. 

"If it were up to me," the Rodian’s voice sounded no less malevolent through the translator device. "If it were up to me Weelmington, I would kill you now and be done with it. I know it was you who gave the Empire my name and claimed that I was some kind of rebel. I spend two months in their cells and you cannot imagine what I endured there."

"I hope you got up close and friendly with your cell mates." Buck remarked with a little smile, triumphant of that much at least. When Buck had been under interrogation by the Imperial commander during his ill fated attempt to rescue Nathan Jackson, there had come a point when the commander was more than ready to kill JD  to coax information from the closed mouth pilot. Out of sheer desperation, Buck offered him Nardo’s name in order to stop that from happening and managed to keep JD alive until they were eventually rescued by Chris, Vin and Ezra much later in the day.

"I should kill you!" He jammed the gun in Buck’s belly more than prepared to fire when one of the Gamorreans bellowed sharply at him and stopped the Rodian before he could pull the trigger.

JD let out a visible breath of relief as Nardo’s gun withdrew and Buck could not deny feeling similar amounts of gratitude for an extension of life, even though he was not about to give Nardo the satisfaction of showing the Rodian he was at all afraid about dying. Nardo would have killed him already if he did not need Buck for something and while he may be making all the noises, Buck had a feeling it was the Gamorreans behind him,  _really_  pulling the strings.

"What do you want with me?" Buck demanded, directing his question, not at Nardo but rather at his Gamorean companions, an act, which infuriated Nardo to no end because he wanted to be the one in charge.

The two Gamorreans looked at each other and the leader of the two spoke. He was larger than most Gamorreans Buck had seen in his lifetime. His porcine face was deep set and made him look quite formidable. Buck had no doubt this was not a man to anger in any shape or form and it looked like Nardo knew it too.

"My name is Selkik." The Gamorrean introduced himself.

Buck recognized the name and it chilled his insides. "Selkik, the Hutt enforcer?"

Selkik nodded and with that bit of intelligence told Buck they were in serious trouble indeed, far more than might be imagined when he  thought Nardo was in charge. "What do the Hutts want with me?" Buck asked with a little more respect in his voice than he had displayed to Nardo. With the Hutt gangsters involved, diplomacy was essential if they were going to survive the next hour.

"His Excellency, the most powerful and all knowing Jabba the Hutt has requested your presence on a task he requires undertaken in the Almania sector." Selkik answered.

He was surprisingly well spoken for a Gamorean, Buck thought. Most of the time, the race could manage little more than grunts and that was through the universal translator. However, there was something about Nardo being here and the Almania sector that made Buck extremely nervous. "The Almania sector? Why me? Place is almost on the other side of the galaxy, I’m pretty sure Jabba has a dozen pilots who could fit the bill better."

"His Excellency requires you." Selkik repeated himself and Buck noticed Nardo’s face contorting slightly into the Rodian version of a smile. Suddenly Buck had a bad feeling what it was that Jabba wanted him to do.

"If you’re thinking the Maw, you might as well shoot me now." Buck said firmly and completely serious. "I’m not taking my ship in there."

"The what?" JD looked at him questioningly.

"His Excellency has urgent business that requires you going through that particular area of space," Selkik responded smoothly, ignoring JD’s question as Buck had.

"There’s no way!" Buck declared in exasperation. "Its impossible."

"We have it on good authority that for you it is  _very_  possible." Selkik countered, his eyes shifting in Nardo’s direction enough to let Buck know who had given Jabba the idea of using him.

"I almost got myself killed trying to get through it!" Buck retorted. "You might as well shoot me now cause I ain’t doing it!"

"We would not be so unkind as to shoot you Weelmington," Nardo said smugly. "After all, I do not believe you can do it again. You’re not as young as you used to be and you humans get slow in your old age. But perhaps this boy..."

"No!" Buck shouted before he could even let the idea form in his mind. "You sons of bitches! He doesn’t even know what it is!" This time his outburst intimidated Selkik enough for the Gamorean to draw his weapon and Buck felt JD’s hands restraining him.

"Buck!" JD retorted. "Take it easy!"

"It will be you or it will be him," Selkik cut through Buck’s outburst. "The choice is yours."

Buck stared at JD, feeling his heart pound inside his chest. The kid did not even know what they were talking about, why should he? Unless one was an experienced star pilot or  _Nardo_ , there was no reason for JD to know what the Maw was. However, one thing was certain, the kid was certainly  _not_  going in his place.

"Alright," Buck said in a low voice full of smouldering anger. "I’ll do it." He glared at Nardo with hatred and made a promise to feed the Rodian his liver before this was all over.

 _If_   he survived the Maw that is.

* * *

"Oh boy," Nathan Jackson let out a deep breath when he read the crew manifest of the ship  just arrived from the core worlds and was presently carrying out docking procedures within the hangar of the rebel base.

Mary Travis, Alexandra Styles, Chris Larabee and Vin Tanner had just seen the departure of Mary’s young son Billy back to his grandfather on Bakura.

Nathan could not help feeling a little sad to see the boy go but supposed he understood Mary’s reason for not wanting him to remain here with her. When the possibility existed they could be set upon by Imperial warships at a moment’s notice, Nathan could appreciate why Mary would want her son out of harm’s way. Still there was no doubt the boy’s presence the last month had been a tonic not only for his mother, after the death of Stephen Travis but generally everyone who came into contact with him. There was nothing that reminded them more of the cause that they were fighting, than being in the presence of a child they hoped would someday benefit from all the struggles they were enduring today.

"Mary," Nathan called out as he saw Mary and the others leaving the launch pad after Billy's ship had left for Bakura. 

The leader of the rebel base looked up at him, a bittersweet smile on her face showing her sadness at seeing her son return home to his grandfather but also gratitude in knowing that he was safe by his departure. Her eyes glistened but there were no signs of tears and with Alex holding onto her arm in a show of sisterly support, the woman held up quite well. Even Chris Larabee seemed a little melancholic. No one could have been blind to how much the boy had come to mean to the Jedi personally these past few weeks.

"How you doing?" Nathan asked when he approached her.

"Oh I’m fine," Mary answered with a sigh. "I knew I couldn’t keep him around me forever but it was so nice having him here for awhile."

"Tell me about it," Vin Tanner found himself confessing. "I’m gonna miss that kid."

"You’re just a big softy." Alex remarked even though she felt just as sorry to see Billy go. He reminded her so much of Stephen that sometimes, it was hard to think of her brother being gone when she looked into the cherubic face of his son.

"We just had a ship come in from command." Nathan announced.  Command was the term given by its members to the central hub of the Rebel Alliance, where its leader Mon Mothma and other highly placed and visible personnel took refuge. It was from Command  most of the Alliance's policy was formed and strategy was mapped out. Mary had spent time there before she arrived in Wild Space and it was widely known that transports from command normally brought new personnel to add to the complement in the Territory's cell of the Rebel Alliance.

"Command?" Mary looked up, all business now. "Are we expecting any new personnel?"

"Yes," Nathan took a deep breath in anticipation of an outburst. "Remember last month when we had all that trouble?"

"As opposed to what?" Mary retorted sardonically.

"I think Nathan means when you had that sanitation problem." Chris pointed out helpfully, a small smile curling at the corner of the Jedi's lips as he saw Nathan trying to reveal something he was certain Mary was not going to like.

"Sanitation problem?" Mary looked over her shoulder. "That was putting it mildly. Our recycling system completely broke down and sanitation units in every living unit began overflowing. Naturally of course when a problem of this magnitude happens, people tend to forget the normal chain of command and go to maintenance about it. Instead, they flood my office with calls as if it was not flooded enough as it was."

"Yuck." Alex exclaimed with distaste. "Suddenly, I am so glad I'm a deep cover operative."

"No kidding," Vin chuckled "There was crap..." 

"We  _get_  the idea." Mary retorted frostily and gave him a look that was very much the commander of the base and one that would have done the Larabee glare proud. "What about it Nathan?" Mary returned to the issue at hand, facing her captain once again.

"Well remember I told you that command thought we had a little morale problem and you told me to transmit a message to them saying if they could better, to come down here and try?"

Mary straightened up and narrowed her eyes. "Yes?" Her voice reeked of suspicion and caution all at once.

"They've appointed us a morale officer."

"A morale officer." Mary said calmly.

"What's a morale officer supposed to do?" Vin asked, unfamiliar with the term.

"Cause more trouble than they're worth." Alex responded quickly.

"Not on my station." Mary declared firmly and Chris saw her jaw set, an expression which usually meant this as far as she was concerned, was her base and neither God nor Country was going to tell her how to run it. "I will not have a morale officer running around the place trying make people cheer up! I want my people alert and aware of what's happening around them, not letting some idiot who had probably never served a day in uniform, who got slapped with some honorary goddamn rank, telling them to lighten when at any moment they could all get killed!"

"So how do you really feel about it?" Alex could not help muttering.

"That's it," Mary glared at Alex, deciding she was not in the mood for this today. "Get off my base!"

"Be careful I just might." Alex grinned, giving her old friend a playful wink.

"So who is the morale officer they've saddled me with?" Mary groaned with resignation as she saw Chris giving her a sympathetic look, which did much for her disposition and her acceptance of the inevitable. How was that man capable of calming her so? A question for another day, she told herself as she waited for Nathan's response.

"A Captain Perkins." Nathan explained looking at the crew manifest. When he raised his eyes, he noticed the passengers from the transport disembarking and one of them was headed straight towards them. Remembering he had a question to answer, Nathan took his eyes off the woman approaching and looked at Mary again. "Captain Louisa Perkins."

"Oh no," Mary was already shaking her head in abject denial while Alex started to laugh. Both Chris and Vin looked singularly confused as Mary started to rave. "Not on my base. I am not having _that_ woman on my base!"

"Why Mary," a new voice entered the mix. "Is that any way to talk about your new morale officer?" 


	4. Grand Admiral

There were some days when it just did not pay to get out of bed.

For Mary Travis, today was one such day.

It was bad enough  she was forced to say goodbye to her son Billy after a month long stay at the rebel base but on top of that, she was now discovering Command had opted to send her a morale officer. That in itself was irritating enough and Mary accepted the news with resignation, realizing she could be adaptable to the situation. However, this was before she learned who they had decided to send in order to fill that role on her base. There were certain things and people she accepted without question, it was what made her such a good commander. Yet as she stood before her new morale officer, Mary knew it was going to be a cold day in hell before she stood for this particular appointment.

"Nathan," Mary said icily, her eyes fixed on the new morale officer as she spoke. "I want an immediate patch to Command."

"Yes Sir." Nathan answered automatically not about to argue with  _that_   voice.

"Well its nice to see you too Mary." The tall red head named Louisa Perkins greeted smiling sweetly at Mary even though it was clear she was enjoying the fact she was such a matter of consternation for her new commanding officer. Louisa was an extremely attractive woman and wore her Alliance uniform almost as if it were fashion statement. She studied Mary and those before her with laughing green eyes and her manner oozed confidence and ready for any situation. She was in other words, always relaxed in the face of adversity. "And you too Lex."

"That’s Alex to you." Alex replied sarcastically.

Mary looked at Nathan who was like Chris and Vin, watching the exchange between the females in their presence with fascination. "Why are you still here Captain?" Mary asked sharply. "My call?"

"Sorry," Nathan shook his head and hurried off in the direction of the command center of the base, suddenly thinking it might not be such a bad thing being out of the line of fire.

"Now Mary, are you still afraid of little ol’ me?" Louisa asked in. Without waiting for an answer, she turned towards Chris and Vin. "Don’t mind us boys, Mary gets a little testy when she’s around me. We go a ways back."

"I can see that." Chris answered neutrally, trying to stifle a smile. "How far back?"

"The preparatory for the Academy and then the Academy itself." Louisa responded as Mary seethed. "And you must be Chris Larabee, the Jedi." She said sweetly, "I heard that we had one of you boys here."

"Louisa, why here?" Mary asked abruptly, not all liking how Louisa was regarding Chris. "There are almost twenty five other cells scattered across the galaxy, some in a lot more charming places than Wild Space. Can you please tell me what twisted set of cosmic circumstances put you on  _my_  base?"

"That’s easy," Louisa returned. "I asked for this posting."

"Figures." Alex remarked, watching Mary’s pupils dilate at the thought that Louisa’s presence here was not a set of freak circumstances. "I supposed you did that asking in your usual way?"

"What way?" Vin looked at her with curiosity.

"On her knees with her lips puckered." Alex returned with narrowed eyes.

Louisa did not seem to mind the insult even though Chris suddenly found reason to avert his gaze and Vin merely shook his head with a quiet mumble that sounded like ‘that’s cold’.

"Oh Lex, you’re gonna have to do better than that to get under my skin. However, might I just add you look simply fabulous now that you lost all that weight. You should have seen her as a teenager, I declare she was a chubby little thing, or maybe  _little_  isn’t the right word." Louisa returned just as sharply.

Alex opened her mouth to speak when suddenly; Chris broke in.

"Alright ladies," the Jedi looked at the trio and decided enough was enough. "We’re all in this together."

"Spoken like a man," Mary growled with a hard stare, which required no telepathy on his part to realise she wanted him to stay out of this. "Alright Louisa," she faced her adversary of so many years once more. "You’re here and for the moment, I can’t do much about that. Until I do, you will not interfere in the smooth operation of this base. We have people here who live their lives with the fear that at any moment and Imperial warship can come out of hyperspace and vaporize us all. I do not want their thoughts fixed on anything but their jobs."

Louisa straightened up and returned with just as much vehemence. "I know my job commander and while you’re so eager to have people remember they could die any minute, also remember that they’re people and  _unless_  they find some outlet to remember that, they will snap under the pressure. Not everyone is built like you Mary. Some of us do not go to bed at night thinking they can take whatever comes without a single worry. Some of us," she narrowed her eyes as she made the statement, "some of us are actually human."

Chris saw the hostility in Mary’s eyes melt at Louisa’s remark, which was exactly what morale officer intended. Personal feelings aside, Mary’s dedication to those who served with her was first and foremost in her mind. Whatever she felt about Louisa would take a secondary position in comparison to the people who relied on her. "You make a good point Captain." Mary said quietly.

"We don’t have to like each other," Louisa retorted. "But we do need to work together."

"I don’t have to agree to that," Mary returned petulantly, not about to call their battle of wits over just yet but rather drawn to an uneasy compromise. "However, I can let you do your job just as long as you remember vigilance is necessary in this place."

"I won’t forget it," Louisa replied, glad they had come to some kind of understanding. "Now, if one you charming gentlemen would be so kind as to show me to the quartermaster’s office, I’ll find a place to bunk down."

"I’m going that way," Chris volunteered, deciding that it was best to put some distance between Mary and Louisa for the moment. It surprised him to feel a tinge of jealousy emanating from Mary at his offer and he stared at her for an instant, wondering what on Twin Moons made her so threatened by this woman. Surely, she could not imagine for one minute his offer was made for any other reason than politeness?

_Stop thinking like a Jedi and start thinking like a man, Larabee._

His inner voice said derisively and Chris winced inwardly remembering what effect single women who were more than a little friendly towards him had on Sarah. She would give him the same look Mary was giving him right this second. Suddenly Chris had an idea it was not a bad idea if he got out of Mary’s way for a while too.

"I’ll see you later." Chris muttered gingerly returning Mary’s look and took note of the smouldering heat behind those blue grey eyes before turning to Louisa, "shall we?"

Louisa was not blind to the effect of Chris playing escort was having on Mary and indulged herself a little further at the expense of the Jedi who was trying hard to play peacemaker but was fast becoming another spark in Mary’s rising hostility.

"Why thank you," she said deviously, sliding her arm around Chris even though the Jedi did not offer it.

Vin Tanner stifled a laugh, watching the expression on Chris’s face change into helplessness as Louisa drew him away. If there was one person in the universe Vin did not want to be when Mary caught up with him again, it was Chris Larabee. He had no idea getting caught in the crossfire between two women could be so hilarious when viewed from an outsider’s perspective. And Chris thought being a  _Jedi_ was hard.

"I hate that woman." Mary remarked, invisible threads of steam rising from her as Chris and Louisa disappeared out the hangar.

"I wasn’t fat." Alex insisted defiantly.

Vin could not resist that opening. He gave her a once and over before remarking. "I don’t know, I can picture you..."

"Finish that statement and you die." Alex warned a menacing glare.

"I’m going to my office," Mary grumbled. "Let me know if the day can get any worse." She stormed without saying another word as Alex and Vin watched her go. The devil in Vin was actually looking forward to more exchanges between Mary Travis and Louisa Perkins.

"Come on pudgy," Vin grinned evilly at Alex once Mary was out of sight. "I’ll buy you lunch at the mess."

Alex fumed and retorted in a low voice. "Keep pushing it Tanner, just keep pushing it."

* * *

Buck Wilmington had no idea where JD was and it was driving him crazy.

He would have refused to cooperate entirely with Nardo and his Gamorreans friends if it were not for that fact alone. Unfortunately, no sooner than he had allowed himself to be coerced into making another run at the Maw, the Gamorrean enforcer, Selkik had called for reinforcements. They arrived soon after, led by a known bounty hunter named Dengar. Dengar was a patchwork of human and cybernetic parts, a result of having an unfortunate run in with Black Sun, so rumour had it. No sooner than Dengar arrived with his entourage, he had taken charge of JD and disappeared out of the hanger before Buck had a chance to protest. Of course he knew exactly what they were doing by taking the kid.

Without Buck having any idea of where JD was, there would be less likely chance of him doing anything foolish during the course of the trip through the Maw. With JD hostage, they could be assured of his good behaviour. Nevertheless, Buck also was wise to the reality of his situation despite his momentary capitulation to Selkik’s requirements. He had no doubt  once he was done taking their cargo from one end of the Maw to the other, JD would cease to be of any further value to them and if the boy was lucky, they would kill him. If not, Buck was perfectly aware thanks to Vin Tanner, that Jabba the Hutt was known to keep human slaves. Somehow, Buck had to get word back to the Alliance.

It was his and JD’s only hope right now.

"Alright, what’s the job?" Buck demanded after JD had been takenaway  and he was alone with Selkik and Nardo on the  _Rogue_. They were assembled in the main passenger compartment, with  Nardo’s gun still aimed in his direction.

"His Excellency, the almighty powerful Jabba has been approached by an Imperial commander of great note." Selkik explained. "This individual wishes Jabba to ferry cargo to be picked up at Myrkr and taken to an outpost on the planet Bastion."

"Myrkr?" Buck’s brow rose in curiosity. "There’s nothing there. It’s a forest world, no commercial value whatsoever. What’s the cargo?"

"A life form." Selkik responded readily.

"You better kill me now and the boy," Buck said angrily. "I won’t be a party to slavery." He meant it too. There were not many things he was willing to die for even to the extent of sacrificing JD but slavery inspired his deepest contempt and it was the  _one_  thing he would not do no matter what the price.

"Its not a sentient life form." Selkik countered immediately, not wishing a situation to arise when there was no need for it. "They are called yslamiri."

"Never heard of them." Buck answered sincere in that statement. Of course in a galaxy as populous as the one they presently inhabited, such a statement was not beyond the realms of possibility. There were billions of life forms out there, half of which had yet to be classified as any particular genus. These creatures could well exist without Buck ever having heard of them once, no matter how well travelled he might be.

"They are found only on Myrkr," Selkik, obliged to explain in greater detail since Buck’s tone was not ambivalent but generally curious as to the nature of the precious cargo they required him to move with such secrecy through the Maw. "Secrecy is of utmost importance. Our client does not wish to be picked up by Imperial agents of any kind, that is why we are taking the route through the Maw. If you were to travel to Bastion by regular means, then you will have to pass through the Hydian Way and that may necessitate discovery."

"There are ways around the Imperial boys that don’t require us going through the Maw." Buck pointed out.

"Our client insists it be this way." Selkik returned. "He has paid his Excellency, the Mighty Jabba very well for this privilege and so it will be so."

There was no point arguing with him on that point, Buck supposed but he did find it somewhat curious about the yslamiri creatures being freighted from one end of the spiral arm to the other. Almost as curious about this Imperial commander who wanted to hide them from his own. "Any idea who this Imperial commander is?" Buck inquired, hoping to glean some useful information.

"Only that he is from the Unknown Regions." The Gamorrean responded with enough tremor in his features for Buck to see that this disturbed him for some reason. "He is not human."

Now that did surprise Buck a great deal. Even before the segregation policy became law, Palpatine had been removing non-human personnel from the ranks of the Imperial fleet by any means necessary. Most went when they saw the shift in the wind, choosing to go voluntarily while others who were more stubborn were removed by more permanent means. Some were discredited and discharged, others were forced to leave because of threats to their families and home worlds and then there were rumours of those killed outright. The fact that there was an Imperial commander of non-human origins who still remained in the Emperor’s ranks indicated two things. He was so valuable to the Emperor his services simply could not be dispensed with or the Emperor had not gotten around to removing him yet. The latter explanation seemed to make sense if the man was enlisting the aid of a gang lord like Jabba the Hutt to conduct his business.

"You’ve met him?"

"I’ve seen him at his Excellency’s palace." Selkik answered. "They say that he is a master strategist."

"This master strategist have a name?" Buck persisted.

"What is with all these questions!" Nardo interrupted. "You need not tell him anything!" 

The Gamorrean glared at Nardo, giving him a warning look to remind the Rodian who was in charge here. It was a hard stare more than enough to send Rodian cowering back to silence but Buck could see Nardo’s remark had left an impression. However, Selkik felt it permissible to give Buck one further piece of information before this discussion was ended.

"Thrawn." Selkik responded. "He is called Thrawn and I have never seen a race like him."

Thrawn? Buck had never head of an Imperial commander called Thrawn; not did he recognise the origins of the name. While it would have been wiser to simply let it go at that, Buck was intrigued enough about this mysterious Commander Thrawn to inquire further information. It was obvious the Gamorrean felt uneasy about the man and was volunteering information because if anyone knew what Thrawn was about, it would be the Rebel Alliance. Since Buck was now known as a card-carrying member, it was the closest Selkik would ever get to satiate his own curiosity.

"Do you know what colour his uniform was?" Buck inquired. It was one way to narrow down the list of possibilities.

"White." Selkik answered almost immediately, as if that were the most telling thing about the man other than his non-human status.

"White?" Buck exclaimed and knew there was only one designation for any Imperial commander in white. A Grand Admiral.

There was Grand Admiral pulling the strings on his trip through the Maw.  Buck wondered just how much worse things were going to get.

* * *

When Ezra Standish walked into his office several hours later, it was actually morning on Cordoba.

Owing to the difference in standard galactic time, a matter of hours made the difference between night and day when held comparatively between Gamorr and the region known as Wild Space. It was still early as far as he was concerned and yet the hot climate of Cordoba was already making itself felt as the Commander of the Cordoba outpost entered his private sanctum. He tugged at the collar and told himself that while the uniform did look handsome, it was hell to wear in this heat. Unfortunately, Ezra was too fastidious to look anything but the paragon of military discipline and bore his clothes with a stiff upper lip.

When he walked through the doors, he found his newly appointed First Officer awaiting him. Ezra tried not to frown as he saw the titian haired beauty  obviously been sent here to spy on him. When he had encountered Darth Vader for the first time, the Sith Lord had been convinced Ezra had something to hide and although Ezra had saved his life following a light sabre battle with Chris Larabee, Vader was still determined to uncover his secrets. His appointment of the lovely young woman incensed Ezra to no end because Ezra thought Vader had respected him more than to believe a pretty face would get him to loosen his tongue.

Since her arrival here, Ezra had taken every opportunity to find fault with her work. He knew there were instances where he was being abjectly unfair and truth be known, it gave him no pleasure to be so hard nosed but Ezra could think of no other way of ridding himself of her without raising suspicion. Finding flaws in her performance was a legitimate way of transferring her off Cordoba without raising the suspicions of those in command. Ezra was certain in the face of that reason, not even Vader would be able to block the transfer request without explaining why she had to remain where she was. Ezra knew military hierarchy well enough to be certain none of them would be impressed Vader was now planting spies in the midst of what were meant to be loyal officers of the Empire.

"Good morning Commander." Julia Pemberton rose to her feet at his arrival.

"Good morning Julia." Ezra said smoothly not in the mood to begin their verbal sparring before he had his cup of hot brew. The aroma wafted through the porcelain cup that was seated at the side of his desk and once again, Ezra gave silent thanks for his adjutant Claire who manage to leave small pleasures like this one when he came into the office. In his opinion, she was the only person who had any right to claim the title of First Officer on this base.

"I’ve been going through the morning reports from communication," Julia responded smoothly, no love lost between them. "I’ve found something interesting."

"Do tell," he said not really interested but Ezra knew how to manage a poker face better than any man alive and appeared listening as he nestled into his chair and took a sip from his cup.

Julia continued to stare at him for a moment as if she was making some observation she was revealing to no one at this point. Instead she continued on the subject at hand. "You’ve notified all commands to contact you in the event the ship called the  _Rogue_  is ever identified at large."

Ezra sat up immediately and paid attention. "Yes I had but I doubted I would get any results. The  _Rogue_  belongs to Buck Wilmington, a member of the Rebel Alliance. No doubt, they would have furnished him with forged registration papers after we identified him and his ship."

When Ezra had first assumed command of this posting, he had done so claiming the desire to find the rebels in this area  responsible for the destruction of the Doldur base where he was stationed. The illusion of vengeance ensured the powers that be, he had a personal stake in capturing the rebels in the area while giving him a perfect alibi to cover his activities as a Rebel Alliance collaborator. He had placed all points bulletins on both the  _Tracker_  and  _Rogue_ , with instruction sthat to be reached the instant any intelligence about the either ship surfaced. 

"I realise that Sir," Julia agreed. "However, that ship was seen blasting off Gamorr seven hours ago."

Something was wrong, Ezra thought quickly. Buck Wilmington was not stupid enough to use the original registration codes for the  _Rogue_  without being aware every Imperial command in the sector would be notified of it. If Buck used those registration codes then there was only one reason for it; he  _wanted_  to be found. Ezra hid these ruminations from his first officer, because this was precisely the situation she had been awaiting to see how he would react, whether there was justifiable reason for Lord Vader's suspicions about him.

"It does not seem right," Ezra spoke after a moment and in that sense he wasn't lying because it was wildly out of character for Buck to make such an obvious mistake. However, if Buck knew Ezra monitored any Imperial reports about the  _Rogue_  and the  _Tracker,_   then it would be the perfect way to reach the Alliance.  "Wilmington is no fool. He must know using his registration code would allow us to find him. Did the  _Rogue_  launch a flight plan upon its departure from Gamorr?"

"Yes," Julia nodded after conferring with the transcript of the communications message she had received from the authorities on Gamorr. "Her flight plan was set for the Tion Cluster."

"I suppose that is possible." Ezra mused but took that flight plan with a grain of salt. As far as he knew, Buck and JD had been escorting Josiah Sanchez somewhere near the core worlds for a rebel conference. Something must have happened in order for Buck to tip his hand like this, which meant he had to act quickly.

"What shall we do about it?" Julia asked.

"What is there to do?" Ezra turned to her. "Alert our people in the Tion Cluster to inform us as soon as the ship enters their space. Beyond that, it is very much out of our jurisdiction."

Julia frowned, knowing he was right. Imperial procedure on this sort of thing was very specific. However, she could feel it in every fibre of her being that there was more going on behind those powerfully attractive green eyes of his and hated herself for the fact she had noticed.

Somehow or rather Julia Pemberton had to find the evidence to finish Ezra Standish before he did the same to her.


	5. Tatooine

JD had seen numerous worlds since joining the rebellion and he could say with absolute determination, he did not like Tatooine very much.

Coming from a planet covered in almost entirely in rolling forests, large tracts of emerald perfect pastoral lands that seem to run forever into horizon  and a balmly healthy climate with the power to make one feel very grateful to be alive. His idea of a living, breathing planet was his home world of Odete, a place with an abundance of life not only in its inhabitants and native fauna but also in its vegetation. JD supposed no matter how much he had seen since leaving Odete, a decision he never regretted, he still missed the planet of his birth.

To JD, Tatooine did not seem quite real with its vast deserts and parched winds. As the bounty hunter Dengar landed his ship in a rather unimpressive town called Mos Eisley, JD was allowed to take a good look at the terrain as the vessel lowered itself in the local spaceport. He saw a town slightly smaller than Cordoba City but with a decidedly far more eclectic assortment of life forms than he could ever imagined. JD might have even liked to explore this new world under different circumstances but he did not at all like the idea if Buck did not do as he was told, there was every chance that JD might not leave Tatooine alive.

The bounty hunter acting as his keeper during his journey to Tatooine and to Jabba the Hutt did not address JD with anything more than a few obligatory grunts to mind his behaviour. As bounty hunters went, Dengar was as different to Vin Tanner as one could possibly manage. Where the former bounty hunter, now Jedi apprentice reminded creature of Voris cat, a creature renowned for the hunt because of it its agility, power and ruthless determination, Dengar was the exact opposite. There was nothing about him that could be called sleek or graceful. He was a clumsy collection of cybernetics. JD remembered VIn telling him Dengar started his career as an Imperial assassin until the bad wiring in his head made him unreliable and he broke away from their control. He fell for a time into the employ of Laurel Chase and Black Sun who had him dispatched when he failed her too.

However, JD was not stupid enough to believe ferrying him from Gammorr to Tatooine was too difficult a task for the bounty hunter and had no wish to provoke the man. Not until he had come up with a plan of how he was going to escape and get word to the Rebellion Buck was in trouble. He had no idea what the Maw was but that was real fear JD saw in Buck's eyes when the Rodian demanded he fly through it. In all the time JD had known Buck Wilmington, fear was something he had never seen in the man's eyes and there was not a patch of space anywhere in the galaxy JD was sure Buck could not fly through.

What was the Maw?

"Hey," JD asked, seeing no reason why the bounty hunter would not answer him since it appeared JD was very much in his power anyway.

Dengar was at the pilot controls and he glanced over his shoulder at JD, who seated in one of the passenger seats in the compartment with him and guarded closely by Jabba Gammorrean guards, before retorting gruffly. "What?"

"Can you tell me what the Maw is?" JD asked, thinking he did not have much to lose.

The Gammorrean sitting across him snorted as if the question was a source of humour and his and his companion took great amusement in chuckling over the next few seconds. JD frowned, feeling foolish for asking when he noticed that there was no such derision in the bounty hunter's expression but rather thoughtful consideration as to whether or not his question ought to be answered.

"I'd really appreciate it." JD tried once more. "I just want to know what Buck is going to face because of me." He added just enough farm boy innocence to make it sound sincere. For some reason, this tone of voice often got him answers whenever he employed it. He was starting to see it as a very useful advantage.

Whether or not Dengar saw through it was unknown but the bounty hunter faced front again and answered with a deep rumble of a voice that sounded somewhat like Josiah's but lacking all its erudite eloquence. "It's a cluster of black holes in the space between Almania and Yavin. They call it the Maw because the only way to successfully cross it is to skirt the event horizons of everyone of them. Almost everyone who's made the attempt has died. Wilmington was the only one who made it through."

That did not surprised JD in the least. If any one could do it, the young man had no doubts it was Buck Wilmington. However, he also remembered the look in Buck's eyes at the suggestion and knew it was not a task the pilot wanted to attempt again. He was doubly horrified at Nardo's suggestion JD undertake it in his place. JD had a terrible feeling the reason for Buck's resistance to the idea was the possibility  he might not be able to his earlier success. With that idea firmly entrenched in JD's mind, suddenly the idea of escape took on a more urgent need. Somehow, he had to escape from these men to get word to the Rebellion.

Unfortunately, as he stared at the Gamorrean guards, keeping close eye on him, with blasters drawn now they were preparing to land at Mos Eisley, JD did not see that opportunity arising. Nevertheless, he would have to devise one. He just had to do as Ezra Standish often told him whenever the Imperial agent was in their company.

_Watch and wait. The odds always shift during the game. You just have to make sure they shift in your favour._

He would do that. He would watch and wait until the game shifted.

* * *

After everything transpiring in the rebel base today, with the departure of Billy Travis, the arrival of Louisa Perkins and the subsequent events that saw him caught in a tug of war between two women, the Jedi decided to make himself scarce. Chris retreated to his quarters, unable to understand why Mary could be jealous of Louisa and him. How could she for a second, imagine his attention could be swayed from her? Did she not know how he felt? As he thought more deeply on the subject, he determined  she probably  _did_  know she was never in danger of losing him to anyone else but then jealousy was never about the obvious he supposed. It was in a way flattering, he thought to himself with a little smile. However, if he pointed this out to Mary, he would have better luck fighting Darth Vader then getting past her with his skin intact.

Thus he chose to stay out of her way until she calmed down. He wanted to meditate because despite the superfluous trivialities of Mary and Louisa on his thoughts, Chris's Jedi senses felt a disturbance in the Force, particularly around his old friend Buck Wilmington. He did not know why exactly he felt this sense of foreboding but it was there, like some tangible force skirting on the edges of his unique perception. Sitting down cross-legged on the floor in the center of the room, he took a deep breath and focussed.

Images of Buck Wilmington filled his mind. Old images of their youth in Corellia which brought a smile to his lips even though he ought to be concentrating on finding his friend and seeking the root of this ominous feeling. However, those old memories were hard to resist and Chris drank them in for awhile, returning to a simpler time when the heat of the Corellian sun on his face was the sunshine of the only world he had ever known. He remembered being a teenager watching the horizon at the race where he first met Buck Wilmington.

The General was home and was with him. Chris was fifteen years old and he was never been happier the old man had agreed to join him at the race. The General had such difficulty understanding him and Chris guessed it was mostly because the man failed to understand how a military war-horse like him had produced a Force adept son. But then Chris's ability did not come from the General at all, but rather his mother, Annika Buran Larabee, a member of the Jedi Council.

The town had been buzzing about the race for weeks. The boy who challenged Erson Vix, the best speed racer on Corellia some said, was a nobody. He had been on the racing circuit for some time and was reputed to be unbeatable even though he had never faced a true professional like Erson before. There were also whispers his mother was a courtesan or someone equally disreputable but the fact  Erson had taken up the challenge was enough to bring out everyone in droves, despite the challenger's reputation or scandalous lineage.

He was cocky and he was very good, Chris was later to find out. He kept on Erson's tail throughout the entire race, maintaining speed, matching the professional, curve for dearly curve on the uneven landscape. The crowd roared with awe and Chris wondered if the boy had the Force. The General smiled and said no, he was just a natural. He won the race of course and later on Chris discovered his name was Buck Wilmington and with his Jedi senses, though nowhere as acute as in his latest years, Chris found the only thing bigger than' s Buck's ego was his heart.

Chris drew away from the pleasantness of the memory, shifting through mire of emotions and feelings to seek out Buck Wilmington. His body relaxed and was soon bombarded with other images, some he could not distinguish, some he recognized, others he simply ignored. He felt himself drawn to something in the fog, watching it swirl past him as his momentum increased and he knew  he was reaching Buck wherever he was. Soon, he would find Buck and his fears would be allayed by seeing how the pilot fared. He would be rid of this unpleasant sensation giving him a vision of slow, lingering death for his oldest friend.

Except Chris was suddenly blind.

Not in the literal sense but definitely in a state that robbed him of his extraordinary sight. For a moment, he had no idea what happened. He had been close, he could almost feel Buck Wilmington where ever he was. Instead Chris had come upon this sheer wall of black that swallowed him whole. For one who had never known a day when this second sight was not apart of his consciousness, being robbed of it sent Chris into panic. He gasped out loud, clawing through the black, trying to find some way out and then realising in his stark terror whatever this was, found him because Buck. Feeling anguished inwardly because he knew what he had to do, Chris wrenched free the strands linking himself and his old friend. He tore away and pulled back as far as he could, praying that the blackness would not follow him.

It did not.

Once he had let go of Buck, the images returned like clean water washing away dirt. It filtered through his thoughts and wrapped a kaleidoscope of sensation and emotions around him like a blanket of comfort. Chris opened his eyes and found his breathing was shallow even though the fear had passed. For a moment, he did not know what to do but sit there and ponder what just happened to him. In all the years he had been a Jedi Knight, Chris Larabee  never experienced anything like that. The totality of his blindness was beyond comprehension. It was like he was stripped of all his abilities and that made his heart pound in fright. For the first time, he wondered how those without the Force went through their lives in such blackness of unknowing.

With a sharp dose of clarity, Chris realised  whatever that blackness was, Buck Wilmington was surrounded by it.

Chris rose to his feet shakily, his mind whirling as he steadied himself. Talking a deep breath, he mentally forced himself into a calmer state of being because his emotions were running so hot at the moment, he was no good to anyone, especially Buck whom Chris believed was in dire trouble now. Chris walked towards the door when suddenly, he heard it chime before he could activate the panel to open it. 

"Chris," Mary Travis stormed past him before he had a chance to register it was her standing there.

"What were you thinking?" She turned around and faced the Jedi. "Louisa is not interested in you! She's just using you to get to me! Its just like when we were in school, when she couldn't out do me in classes, she'd steal my boyfriends! This is the same thing all over again! She's insane I tell you. Insane!" Mary blurted all this without a pause or a breath.

Chris could only stare at her before he responded in complete exasperation. "WOMAN, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"You and Louisa!" Mary replied confused. What else had they been discussing here?

"I don't have time for this." He growled and started out the door again.

The look in his eyes iaffected Mary like a splash of water on her skin. She was startled back to her senses when she realised just how ridiculously she was behaving. With a groan of complete embarrassment, she hurried after him realizing  something was terribly wrong  _other_  than the fact she had completely lost her mind. Oh, could she humiliate herself any more this day?

"Chris!" She called out to him while he was striding down the hallway.

He did not pause but slowed down slightly, allowing her to catch up with him.

"What's the matter?" She asked, concern flooding her voice.

"Buck." Chris said tautly. "There's something wrong with Buck."

"What do you mean?" She looked at him, wanting an explanation.

Chris paused and took a deep breath. "I can't feel him."

"Excuse me?" She stared back, not comprehending. "I don't understand. What do you mean you can't feel him?"

"I can't find him." He repeated himself. "I am a Jedi, I feel people through the Force. I can feel you, Vin, anyone if I set my mind to it but right now I can't feel Buck. Where he is, there's nothing. I've never felt anything like it before."

She could tell that just by the look in his eyes how anxious he was. There were many things she could tell about Chris Larabee even without the benefit of being a Force adept and how much would have surprised him. Of course when Louisa Perkins was anywhere in the vicinity, her commonsense seemed to disappear but now  she  discarded such foolishness aside, she could tell what he was thinking just by the glimmer in his icy coloured eyes.

And right now, his eyes were telling Mary he was afraid.

The idea Chris Larabee could be afraid was one that rather shocked Mary. He could be sombre, grave, and amazingly sensitive while still maintaining that rock hard exterior shell hiding his thoughts from everyone but fear was something she did not associate with him.

"How is that possible?" 

"I don't know," he shook his head and resumed walking.

"Where are you going?" Mary asked following him.

"I'm going after him." Chris replied firmly and had not really decided what he was going to do until she asked the question. All he had been doing ever since he left his quarters was reacting to that awful darkness he had felt.

"Go after him?" She exclaimed. "You don't know where he is. On last report he was on route back to us from Kashyyyk."

"Then I'll start there." He stated, not about to be deterred from his plan.

"Chris, let's think about this." Mary tried to reason with him, knowing all too well what it was like to run off half-cocked without thinking about the consequences. She cared about Buck Wilmington too but she did not want Chris to endanger himself by rushing off without being aware of what he could be facing when he got there. He was too valuable to the rebellion and to herself personally, to lose so recklessly.

"I don't have time to discuss this with a committee."

"I am  _not_  a committee!" She snapped and kept up with him, not about to let him do anything foolish. "If you insist going on then I'm coming with you."

Chris came to a halt abruptly and stared at her. "No you're not."

"Don't tell me what I can and cannot do on my base Mr Larabee." She retorted with a determined set of her jaw indicating she was not budging on this matter.

"Mary...." Chris started to try a different tact.

"You try leaving this base without proper information about where Buck might be and I'll have you grounded so fast it will make your head spin."

"You wouldn't." He met her gaze in disbelief.

"Try me." She saw through narrowed eyes. "I did something very stupid a month ago and almost got everyone I cared about killed in the process including myself, I am not letting you endanger Buck by rushing off without any idea of what might be out there. You said it yourself, for some reason your sight does not work where Buck is concerned. Do you mean to tell me you're not vulnerable because of that? You are no good to him if your Jedi abilities are useless to you."

In truth, if he wanted to leave, there was very little that she could do to stop him. He could take a ship out with virtually no resistance from just the respect he commanded among the rank and file. However, he did not want it to come to that and as much as Chris hated to admit it, she was right. If he went after his old friend, it was likely he would run into whatever it was that was blocking the Force around Buck Wilmington. His Jedi senses would next to useless and if it was something Chris could not handle, then he was not only dooming himself but also Buck.

"Alright," he let out a sigh, conceding defeat. "Can we track him?"

"We’ll try." Mary said automatically, glad he had chosen to see reason. She had no wish to carry out her threat against him, perfectly aware if he had gotten it in his mind to leave, there would be very few people who could stop him, if any. "I know he left Kashyyyk on schedule. Let’s wait until to see if he exceeds his ETA back to base. If he does, then I’ll alert our people to start a search."

Chris hated to wait but knew he had no idea how to proceed to even locate Buck. Even if he took off, he would not even know where to begin. Beyond Kashyyyk, Buck and the _Rogue_ could be anywhere in the galaxy. It was too vast a space for even a Jedi to search, particularly when the source of his quest seemed to be surrounded by something capable of repelling the Force. "You do that." Chris nodded. "But the minute we know for sure he’s late, I want to start looking myself."

It was something of a compromise in Mary’s opinion but not much. 

"We’ll find him Chris," she placed an arm on his shoulder. "If it's all possible, we’ll find him."

They had better, Chris thought inwardly, because he sure as hell could not.

* * *

It was hours later before Ezra could leave the Cordoba outpost without raising the interest of his First Officer who seemed to be watching his every move closely. Fortunately, his staff was accustomed to seeing him dine outside the base during lunch and thus when he had departed the premises bound for the Four Corners Tavern; no one was in the least bit surprised. Besides, those under his authority were perfectly aware of the relationship shared between their commander and the owner of the establishment. Those who had seen the lady themselves could well understand his infatuation for she was certainly handsome.

It especially served his purpose for them to think that when she was also the only link he had to the Rebel Alliance. Their relationship had the added feature of giving him a plausible cover for his frequent visits to see her. A short time after his arrival in the tavern, Inez  relinquished the bar tendering duties to one of her employees and joined him at the table they normally occupied whenever he was in the place. If there was anything that could be considered a perk of this posting, it was the opportunity to meet her and everything they had shared since then.

"Buck would not do that," Inez declared feeling a tightening in her chest at the possibility her ex-husband might be in danger. She knew Buck's habits and she knew he was no fool. He would never use his original registration codes for the  _Rogue_  unless there was good reason for it. "He’d know the minute he used those codes, the Empire would find him." 

"I am aware of this," Ezra responded quietly, just as concerned of this as she. "I am assuming the only reason he would do this is to alert the rebellion to the fact he is in some kind of difficulty, so they may determine his last known whereabouts."

"But why?" She exclaimed. "Who could have him? The threat cannot be from the Empire if they were notified first."

"Agreed," he nodded. "Whatever danger he is presently experiencing, it is not from the Empire. Gamorrean authorities merely forwarded the information to me because I have a standing order requesting all information regarding the _Rogue_. They sent it on to me expecting me to take action."

"Did you?" She asked tautly.

"I had no choice Inez," Ezra confessed reluctantly. "The information was brought to me by Julia. If I did not act upon it, it would give her reason to suspect my loyalties are anywhere other than where they ought to be."

She nodded in understanding, having no reason to question his actions because Ezra had proved more than once how much he was willing to risk in order to help the rebellion. Just how much was often a source of great worry to her because she cared deeply about the man and would have devastated if any harm should befall him.

"I know," she said with a little smile and leaned over to kiss him, a gesture of apology he was more than happy to receive. Their lips met tenderly and in the dim light of the tavern were ensured a certain amount of privacy.

Her kisses were truly electrifying, Ezra thought almost dreamily as their tongues duelled in heat. She smelled of all things warm and delicious, of spice and sensations that tingled his skin.

"Am I interrupting?" A new voice entered his paradise of feeling and tore him unwillingly from it.

Ezra shifted his gaze and his head enough to find himself glaring hard at Julia Pemberton, standing by the table watching them closely. "I trust you have an extremely good reason for being here." 

"I had heard so much about this place," Julia remarked, pleased to see him a little shaken from his usual cool facade. "I thought I would come and see it for myself."

"You are always welcome here," Inez said with a smile, noticing there was something in the way this woman was staring at Ezra that was more than just professional interest. "Ezra has told me so much about you Lieutenant Pemberton." Her words were one of greeting but the tone was warfare declared with as much hostility as two armies about to kill each other in a bloody battle.

"I'm afraid he has said nothing about you." Julia retorted shortly.

"I do not see how my personal life is any of your business..."Ezra started to say. He was angry and not about to hide it.

"It is my business Sir, when it is possible that she is a rebel collaborator."

Ezra stood up firmly and said in a low voice, betraying nothing. "Explain yourself Lieutenant."

"I had a check run on her," Julia returned, staring at Ezra dead in the eye and realizing how furious he was even though he was attempting to remain composed. "She was married to Buck Wilmington many years ago."

Ezra took a deep breath and answered. "Just how do you think we became acquainted in the first place?"

Julia stared at him, not understanding for a moment. There was no surprise or anger on his face at her revelation, just her actions. "You mean you _know_?"

"Of course I knew!" He hissed. "I am member of the Imperial fleet, do you think  I would be foolish enough to consort with someone who was suspect? However, as records have also shown, that marriage was dissolved some years ago. I met Ms Recillos when I was inquiring after the whereabouts of her former husband."

"I was very helpful," Inez said with a little smile, amused to no end by the stupefied look on the lieutenant's face.

"My dear," Ezra turned to her and said graciously. "I must apologise for all this."

"Its alright," Inez said rising to her feet. "I always knew Buck was going to be trouble, even _after_ I divorced him."

"But..." Julia opened her mouth to speak, unable to imagine how the situation could spiral out of control so quickly. She had been so certain Ezra was unaware of this woman and her past affiliations, just as Julia was sure  Inez Recillos was a rebel sympathizer using him to gain information. Now, in retrospect, she realised Ezra Standish was too crafty to be used in that way. Unfortunately, it was a realization come too late.

"Enough." Ezra shot her a look that silenced her immediately. "We will discuss this in my office."

 _Yes_ , Julia thought gloomily, _far too late._


	6. Mission

Shortly before Chris Larabee was struck with Force blindness, the  _Rogue_  landed on the planet Myrkr.

Myrkr was idyllic. Its lack of mineral ore and its distance from the main space lanes ensured the planet remained virtually untouched and left to its native wildlife. Buck himself, never had reason to travel to Myrkr and beyond its existence on the galactic star charts, had no other reason to think about the system at all. Upon entering the upper atmosphere and making his slow descent to landing co-ordinates provided by Selkik,Jabba’s enforcer, Buck was treated to his first view of the surface. From space, it was evident abundant life survived here just from the nitrogen oxygen rich atmosphere that gave the planet an inviting emerald glow. However as the  _Rogue_  descended from the atmosphere and approached the surface, Buck was treated to a world with large tracts of forest land, oceans teaming with life and the vision of a serenity that made him wish he had come here under better circumstances.

The designated landing site was a clearing in a middle of a thick forest composed mostly of trees Buck was certain were hundred of years old judging by the width of their thick trunks and by the sky they seemed to reach. Their branches were equally formidable, all heavy with leaves that created a thick canopy blocking out the sunlight for the vegetation beneath. Buck felt a sense of outrage realising  his landing site recently cleared by the evidence of burnt trees and charred grass staring up at him from the ground. Somehow it did not feel right seeing such destruction in these pristine surroundings.

There was another ship already waiting for them when the  _Rogue_  landed although this one was a great deal smaller than his freighter, capable of carrying only three passengers at the most. The little skip jumper as it was called, was modified for speed and without even being told, Buck determined its passengers were most likely Jabba’s people because their vessel had just the type of modifications required by those under Hutt employ. The trio awaiting them was also very much of Jabba’s ilk. A Chandra Fan, clearly the leader was a small rodent like creature known by their amazing ability to track. A Trandoshian, whom most rebels considered traitors since it was the Trandoshians who first introduced the idea of making Kashyyyk a slave labour force, was probably the muscle, Buck decided. The last of the three was the Trandoshian's protégé, a young Twileki who went by the name of Bib Fortuna.

"Have you gathered them?" Selkirk asked the Chandra Fan named Elera.

"Yes," Elera replied. "Two dozens as Jabba requested."

The diminutive alien turned away from the new arrivals and started walking toward his ship. The Trandoshian Rhussk stared at Buck Wilmington with obvious distaste. Trandoshians had no love for rebels and were known to turn in any in that came across their path as if it were a matter of national pride. Buck returned the reptilian’s glare with the challenge if he were to make that attempt, he would not live to regret it. Selkik grunted at Rhussk in Gamorrean and Buck guessed by the manner the Trandoshian pulled back, it was a warning of incurring Jabba’s extreme displeasure if the human were killed before he could perform the task required. Buck gave the Trandoshian a little sneer, daring him to come at him and relished the fury in Rhussk’s eyes when he could not.

They rounded the skip tracer and were confronted by a number of steel cages. Within the cages, scurrying around in a scattered disorganised state was the yslamiri. For a moment Buck thought this was some kind of a joke. He expected something worthy of the risk he was taking to ferry it to Bastion but the animals he spied in their cages appeared more like creatures children would keep as pets. They were small and furry, no more than a foot from nose to tail. Their bodies were long but covered in smooth brown pelt and they looked as harmless as any life form he had ever seen. They paused at the new comers and stood on their rear legs to take an exploratory sniff with their small nose from which fine whiskers were dangling.

"You got to be kidding me." Buck stared at Selkik in accusation. "You want me to brave the Maw, just to carry _those_ things?"

"We have been told they are creatures of great importance." Selkik responded. "The Grand Admiral was willing to pay handsomely for their capture and sale."

Buck glanced at the creature scampering in their cages and for the life of him could not see the reason why. They were cute and no doubt the kind of thing to make females and young children squeal in delight but valuable enough to take through the Maw in order to avoid Imperial detection? It simply did not make sense. Unfortunately, whether or not it made sense to Buck was unimportant. What did matter was unless he transported these animals to their new home on Bastion, JD Dunne was as good as dead. With that in mind, Buck brushed aside the importance or lack of, of these creatures and conceded he would be taking them to Bastion one way or another.

"Your dime I guess," Buck frowned. "I kind of thought you might be curious why you’re risking your necks for these things."

"We are risking nothing," Rhussk retorted. "We are getting well paid to play trappers."

"And you do it so well," Buck gave the Trandoshian a disgusted look.

"I have found something interesting though," the Chandra Fan announced. "I have discovered what appears to be a Jedi relic while we were engaged in the hunt." 

"Jedi, pah!" The Trandoshian sneered. "Their kind is gone."

"Not all," Nardo glanced at Buck. "You is friend to one, are you not?"

Buck swore under his breath, realising Nardo who frequented Cordoba just as much as he would have been aware of his association with Chris Larabee. During the period when Chris was hell bent on killing himself either by the liquor or the bounty hunters attempting to claim his head for the Empire, Chris had been highly visible on Cordoba and Buck along with him. Although there was no real harm in they knowing about Chris, Buck nonetheless was unhappy about it, not wishing to be in any more of a disadvantage than he already was.

"I’ve known a few in my time." Buck admitted somewhat reluctantly as all eyes fixed upon him.

"The relic is inscribed in an pre-Republic text." Elera who seemed quite intelligent explained as if what was found intrigued him on a personal level beyond the monetary value of the endeavour he had been paid to accomplish.

"Pre-Republic?" Buck exclaimed. "That’s more than 5,000 years!"

The Jedi Council had been known to exist for nearly 3000 years and before that the order was not exactly called the Jedi even though they had been ingrained in the fabric of the civilised galaxy for as long as there had been life to remember it. Buck did not realise until this moment the magnitude of the Jedi’s extinction. Suddenly Buck felt very deeply for Chris, not only for the loss of his kind but what it meant for the galaxy as a whole. It was as if something important was lost forever, thanks to the machinations of Darth Vader and his master, the Emperor.

"So what does it say?" The Twileki named Bib Fortuna inquired.

"I do not understand for sure," the Chandra Fan’s nose twitched unhappily and for a moment, did not look unlike the yslamiri Buck would soon be taking off world. "I think it is a warning to stay away from this world."

"There must be powerful weapons here then," Rhussk immediately declared. "Something that would kill Jedi."

Buck could already see the greed forming in the reptilian’s eyes and Buck could tell the Trandoshian had plans of selling the location to the Empire. More than ever, he wished he could get word to the Rebellion because Chris of all people needed to know about this place. The Jedi were already dying out in large numbers, Chris and a few others still remained but if there was some kind of weapon on this world that could destroy them, then the Jedi fire would become extinct in the galaxy. That was something Buck could not stomach in any shape or form. However, Buck need not have worried because Selkik had also seen the glimmer in the Trandoshians eyes.

"You will say nothing about this place Rhussk." Selkik said firmly with enough command in his voice to indicate if the Rhussk did not obey, he would be killed immediately. "The Admiral was specific about maintaining its shroud of secrecy. Sell its location to the highest bidder and I swear to you there will be no place in this galaxy you can hide where he will not find you. Even his Excellency the mighty Jabba does not wish to anger this being."

"He is just an Imperial lackey." Rhussk snarled but Buck could see he was clearly shaken by the vehemence of the threat.

"Rhussk," Selkik eyed him carefully. "If you should feel compelled to tell about this place after we have paid you well, Jabba too has a long reach and if you do not feel threatened by an Imperial admiral then I hope you are mindful of his Excellency's desire, I have no wish for you to visit the Pit of Karkoon."

Buck stared at Selkik wondering what the hell  _that_  was but the question was driven away by the relief he felt when he saw the enormity of what the Trandoshian faced, sink into the reptile’s psyche. Buck had no doubt  Rhussk would maintain his silence. Still, Buck’s own curiosity regarding the history of Myrkr was aroused and if he ever made it back to the Alliance, made a promise to himself to find out all he could about this world.

Something told him that it was in the interest of the Jedi to do so.

* * *

The ETA for Buck’s arrival at the rebel base came and went with no sign of the  _Rogue_.

Mary received a com transmission from Josiah who was still on Kashyyyk, informing her Buck had left on schedule and there did not seem any portents of danger during that departure to give Josiah any concerns for Buck’s return to the Alliance. What happened to Buck after the  _Rogue_  blasted off Kashyyyk was anyone’s guess and once again Chris was revisited by that terrible sensation of blackness keeping him from reaching Buck. He knew Buck was not dead, the darkness had not been able to keep that from him but he could sense little else. It was very possible Buck was in a coma and his mind in such a state of limbo nothing could breach the walls of his neural dysfunction. Chris tried not to give that possibility too much credence.

Vin was more than prepared to accompany him in the search for Buck, even though Chris made it clear he was under no obligation to do so. The former bounty hunter was currently preparing the  _Tracker_  for departure since there was wisdom in having two ships if one of them needed to return to the Alliance for help. He also hoped to sneak away before Mary carried out her foolish plan to accompany him. Chris had the sneaking suspicion Mary's eagerness to follow him on his search had more to do with her escaping Louisa Perkins for awhile rather than rescuing Buck. Not that Mary would not put herself in danger for the pilot if required, but she had to know Chris was more than capable of handling things on his own without her presence at his side.

Chris was preparing his ship for take off when Mary entered the hangar and immediately spotted him beneath the X-wing. As he saw her walking towards him, he resolved himself not to be deterred from his intention to leave. Mary had a way of putting things so reasonably Chris had no choice but to comply. N ot this time, he could feel an invisible clock somewhere in the background and each tick made him more convinced Buck was running out of time. However, as Mary approached, Chris started to sense something from her that was not just her desire to have him remain or for that matter take him with her.

"Chris," Mary spoke up as she reached the X-Wing. "We've just had a transmission from Cordoba." She announced, not even noticing he was readying the X-wing to leave.

"From Inez?" Chris guessed and while he did not say it, information that came from Inez usually originated from Ezra Standish.

"Yes," she nodded. "Ezra informed her that the  _Rogue_  was on Gamorr."

Chris paused what he was doing and stared at her. "On Gamorr?" He asked. "What the hell is he doing on Gamorr and how did Ezra find out?"

"I'm not sure," she shook her head trying to make sense of the pieces as Inez had imparted it to her. "Apparently he was in Gamorr and when he took off, he used the original registration codes for his ship instead the forged registration we provide  so he could get past docking authorities without trouble. The minute he did that, docking authorities notified Ezra."

"That don't make sense," Chris mused coming towards her. "Unless he was in trouble."

"I'd say so," Mary agreed with that assertion. "Unfortunately, we have no idea where he went from Gammorr. Ezra said he lodged some kind of flight plan but that's almost certainly a forgery."

"We have to go there," Chris stated firmly, realising finally he had somewhere to begin. "We need to go Gamorr." He started towards the  _Tracker_  on the far side of the hanger where Vin Tanner was presently conducting pre-flight preparations on his vessel.

"I'm coming with you." Mary stated firmly.

Chris hoped she had given up that notion but her voice indicated other wise. "Mary, this isn't such a good idea."

"Chris I can take care of myself," she said trying not to sound annoyed by his remark.

"I know that," he looked at her. "But if we run into trouble, you're too valuable to lose."

"Chris," Mary looked at him. "I know you're trying to protect me but I need to get out of here for awhile. Its not just the fact I will probably kill Louisa if I don't get away from her,  it's also because I need to be doing something and not just wait around for you and the others to come back."

He could sense the emotions from her and knew she was telling him the truth. With Stephen's demise only weeks behind them, Chris could tell she had still had very real fears about losing her friends just as tragically as she had lost her husband. He knew when it came to him, it was more than just friendship and Chris could not deny that he felt the same way about her. Mary was still too fearful of losing the people she cared about by sitting back and doing nothing. How could he berate her for something he felt once too often himself? It would drive him just as insane to be sitting somewhere safety when other people were risking their lives in his place.

"Alright," Chris let out a breath and conceded defeat, wondering if there was ever really any contest in this matter. "You can come along."

"Well thank you," she said sarcastically and even Chris had to admit he sounded a little condescending but considering how insane she had been behaving since Louisa got here, he figured he owed her a little discomfort.

"Be nice," he glanced sideways and gave her a smile of mischief. "I might invite Louisa with us."

"Very funny.".

"So what is the story between you two anyway?" Chris asked good naturedly, taking his mind off Buck for a moment. "Other than the boyfriend stealing?" He could not resist adding with a slight chuckle.

The remark garnered a sharp slap on his shoulder. "She just gets on the wrong side of me." Mary grumbled. "I mean she was always so feminine and graceful and one of those women that swoon when men say a word to her."

"I guess you're not the swooning type." He remarked with a completely straight face.

"I haven't met a man yet that was worth the swoon." She said sweetly, giving him a look.

"And you say Alex and I are bad," Vin Tanner laughed as he stared at them from on top of his ship where he had been making some minor repairs to the hull. He had Mary and Chris's conversation and felt rather gratified to know even a fully trained Jedi could be just as juvenile as an apprentice, when the mood took him.

"Vin," Chris suddenly became serious. "The  _Rogue_  was spotted on Gamorr. You've been there haven't you?"

Vin walked to the edge of his ship and sat down, an immediate frown replacing his earlier smirk. "Hell, that is _not_ good news."

"That bad?" Chris asked, sensing the dark emotions that were emanating from the younger man.

"Bad enough," Vin replied. "If anyone recognised him or the ship, you can bet your ass they would sold him out as fast as possible. Gamorreans are mostly big and dumb and they like to make quick money. If they can't do it by playing muscle, they'll doing by playing the informant game. I would have thought an old space jockey like Buck would know better than to land there."

"I don't think it was intentional." Mary explained as the former bounty hunter listened from his lofty position. "When he left Gamorr, he used the original registration codes for the  _Rogue_."

"Make sense," Vin exchanged a look with Chris, "if he is in trouble, that's the surest way to get word to us without tipping off who has him."

"Except who has him isn't the Empire," Chris pointed out, gleaning that much from what Mary told him about Inez's information. "Apparently, docking authorities on Gamorr alerted Ezra on Cordoba to the presence of the  _Rogue_ , expecting him to call in to the Empire."

"I remember," Vin nodded, recalling how Ezra once said he had issued orders for any information regarding the  _Tracker_  or the  _Rogue_  be sent on directly to him. It was Ezra's way of being alerted to any of them being in danger so that he might be able to help if necessary.

"If it isn't the Empire, who could it be?" Mary asked.

"Bounty hunters." Vin said without having to think twice. "Every one of us has a substantial price on our heads. If he was taken on Gamorr, I'm guessing it was a bounty hunter."

"Vin there's something else," Chris said reluctantly, "I can't find him with the Force."

"What?" Vin's eyes widened and the apprentice immediately started descending from the top of the ship by way of a set of rungs against the hull that led to the hangar deck. Within moment, he was facing Chris with the same astonishment on his face as when Chris told Mary. "How? I thought you told me the Force was everywhere."

"I know," Chris nodded, "but it's not around Buck."

"Wait a minute," Vin started to say, a memory reawakening. "Remember when we were in the Corporate Sector when we approached the Black Sun's hideout?"

"It was exactly the same as that." Chris stared at Vin, suddenly realising the younger man was correct. This blackness wasn't entirely a unique occurence. "Whatever was deflecting the Force at the Black Sun's domicile is now doing it around Buck."

"There was no Force adept there." Mary retorted, recalling her time at Black Sun well enough to know that much for certain. "In fact, I had the impression Laurel Chase did not think about the Jedi very much at all."

"I know what I felt." Chris said firmly. "It was like going blind. One minute I could see and the next, everything went black, especially when I tried to link up with Buck."

"Chris," Vin let out a deep breath, reluctant to bring up this possibility up but they had to at least entertain the idea. "Could he be dead?"

"No," Chris said automatically and with conviction. "He's not dead. If he died, I would have felt it."

"Chris," Mary suddenly realised they had been speaking so much about Buck that they had forgotten one very important thing. "What about JD?"

Chris's eyes widened. "JD. I never even thought about it." The Jedi mused feeling profoundly ashamed that he had forgotten about the young man. "I assumed he was with Buck."

"He would be," Mary pointed out. "However, if you cannot find Buck, can you find JD?"

Chris had to think on that for an instant. He did not know JD as well as Buck or as long. There were some connections that were naturally binding, like his connection to Vin for instance. However that was more than just time and years of friendship, his link to Vin was established by the fact they were both Force adept. He was not certain he could be so precise with JD.

"I'm not sure." He confessed. "But I'm sure as hell going to try."


	7. Crawl

"Tanner is that you?"

"Yeah it's me Crawl." Vin Tanner answered the grizzled blue skin alien staring back at him through the com screen on the console of the _Tracker_. "How are you doing?"

"How am I doing?" Crawl exclaimed with a hint of exasperation. "Going crazy wondering what happened to one of my best customers! Where the hell have you been?"

Vin shrugged, wondering if he ought to tell Crawl what he had been up to the last few months. When he was still a bounty hunter, the Modrek whose image was being transmitted to him through a scrambled frequency from Coruscant, was the closest thing Vin ever had to a friend. Crawl was an agent, the intermediary between himself and his paying customers. It was through Crawl he would get his assignments and Crawl had a good nose for people so he never led Vin astray. In his time, the Modrek was quite the bounty hunter himself but that was long ago and Crawl spent his later years playing the middleman for the new generation of bounty hunters roaming the galaxy.

"Dare you to tell him," Alex said with a little smile as she sat comfortably in his co-pilot's seat. It surprised Vin how good it made him feel seeing her there.

Vin gave her a look of sarcasm but the truth was, Crawl was a friend and a trusted one at that. Crawl was no sell out and the secrets made known to him, remained with him. "I went the other way, Crawl. I'm out of it."

"You are the best my boy," Crawl retorted in open disbelief. "I've seen you track a mark half way across the galaxy until the poor bastard finally gave himself up just to be rid of you. What in the galaxy could make you throw away that talent? It's not a woman, is it? I know how you are with them."

Alex cocked a brow of interest and Vin gestured at her to remain quiet because he could see she was bursting to make light of that remark. "No, it's not for a woman. Its as  _worse_."

"A man?" Crawl asked suspiciously. Humans were very peculiar when it came to their sexual proclivities. Vin never struck him as having such inclinations but one could never tell.

"NO!" Vin exclaimed indignantly.

Alex was almost splitting her sides trying to hold her laughter in. "Oh come on, you can't expect me not to say something!"

"Crawl," Vin ignored her and turned his attention back to his old friend gruffly. "I've walked away from the game. I'm a Jedi apprentice."

"You're a padwan learner?" The Modrek gasped, shock apparent on his furry and wrinkled face.

"You know what a padwan learner is?" He did not expect Crawl to know the term employed only by Jedi Knights to describe their apprentices.

"I have been around a great deal longer than you," Crawl said as a matter of factly. "I thought you were walking away from the game, not taking an even more dangerous path. It is not a good time to be a Jedi Vin, Palpatine is bent on wiping them out."

"I know," Vin answered, grateful for Crawl's concern but that was not the reason he contacted the man in the first place. Even as he spoke, he could see Gamorr approaching in the distance. Alex was feeding in the false registration codes provided by the Rebellion to the docking authorities so they could land. Chris's ship was in a holding pattern on the far side of Gamorr's moon. There was no way an X-wing could attempt to land at any civilized star system without alerting every Imperial ship in a 50 light year radius. "Look Crawl, this isn't a social call. I need some information."

"You know my rules." Crawl retorted, reminding Vin he did not inform on other bounty hunters.

"I understand but I need to know if anyone has brought in a rebel named Buck Wilmington to the Empire." Vin asked.

"Not to the Empire but I hear Hutts are after a pilot named Wilmington." Crawl answered readily enough because this was common knowledge among the circle of bounty hunters and not exactly a secret. "Jabba's paid a lot of eyes to keep on the lookout for him."

"Jabba?" Vin mused with confusion. What would Jabba want with Buck? As far as Vin was aware, Buck had never even met the ganglord. Buck's tenure as a commercial freighter captain was mostly in service to the Rebellion, Vin had never heard of him mention any dealings with Nal Hutta. For that matter, Vin had something of a working relationship with Jabba and knew Jabba had no use for outside help, not when he had a small fleet of his own ships. "What would Jabba want with him?" 

"Something to do with the Maw. I don't know whether or not they caught him but I hear Dengar was hot on his trail." Crawl added.

Vin suddenly had the suspicion Dengar might have encountered Buck on Gamorr and somehow managed to coerce the pilot into leaving with him. It would certainly explain why Buck would use the _Rogue's_ original registration codes when he slipped through docking authorities. It would have been the only way for the pilot to signal for help. However, Vin was still at a loss to know why  Jabba would want him at all so much as to go through all the expense of hiring bounty hunters to acquire him. And more importantly, what had the Maw to do it?

"What's the Maw?" Alex asked quietly.

"I'm not sure," Vin muttered. "It's supposed to be some kind of a spacer legend." He pondered the question a little further before facing Crawl again. "Thanks for the help Crawl," Vin said to his old friend. "I'll be seeing you around."

Their conversations were often that way, short and to the point. In the past, it had to do with the fact Vin was always on the move from one job to another. Now, it was simply because Vin was not about to risk Crawl's life by having anyone discover the Modrek's affiliations with a member of the Rebel Alliance not to mention a Jedi apprentice.

"If you're going down the road I think you are, I'd rather it be later than sooner." Crawl retorted, reaffirming Vin's belief that an amicable termination of their relationship at this point would be for the best.

"I understand." Vin nodded. "Goodbye."

"May the Force be with you." The Modrek smiled finally before his image disappeared off the screen.

Once the transmission was terminated, Vin eased back into his chair, feeling uneasy because he could not figure out this situation. If it were the Empire who had Buck, then at least Vin would know why that was. However, the introduction of Jabba the Hutt into the mix confused him. What would a Hutt gangster want with a rebel pilot? For that matter, why would Jabba be interested in an old legend like the Maw.

"I don't get it," he said out loud. "Why would he want Buck?"

"I don't know," Alex shrugged. "I thought Nal Hutta had its own pilots."

"They do," Vin declared firmly, aware of this information from personal experience. "And why the Maw?"

"You know what it is?" Alex asked again. She had never heard the reference but then if it was an old spacer's legend, it was understandable.

"I've heard something about it." He faced her as the automatic tractor beams on Gamorr docking authorities captured the ship and brought the _Tracker_ into its appropriate landing berth. Once automation took over, there was little the pilots were required to do except sit back and enjoy the ride. "It's supposed to some treacherous part of space that kills anyone who flies into it."

"Maybe he wants Buck to try it." Alex suggested.

"Maybe," Vin agreed that was definitely a possibility. "I can't see why Jabba would be interested in some old legends. He doesn't have a curious side to him, just a nose for making money."

"He's a Hutt," Alex retorted. "Its genetic."

"We better try and contact Chris," Vin finally decided. "Maybe he has some idea what the Maw has got to do with Buck."

* * *

  
The X-wing maintained its orbit of the small uninhabited moon that revolved every 32 hours around the planet Gammorr. Remaining on its far side, the X- wing stayed out of reach of planetary sensors and any other scanning devices that might be able to locate them. They had decided prior to leaving the rebel base that it would be best if Vin made inquiries after Buck on Gammorr since he knew the terrain better. Besides, with Alex who was a skilled information gatherer as well as covert operative, the duo were mostly likely to find out what had become of Buck Wilmington, rather than a Jedi and the most wanted rebel in the sector.

That is if they could stop arguing for more than a minute.

"You okay back there?" Chris asked Mary as he heard her moving around in the passenger seat behind him. 

"I'm fine." Mary yawned, feeling the boredom of waiting around finally catch up to her. When she agreed to accompany him on the X-wing it was mostly because it seemed wiser at the time to let Vin and Alex conduct the investigation on Gamorr but Mary had no idea how tedious the inactivity of waiting around could be. On the rebel base, when the others were away undertaking perilous missions, Mary always busied herself with running her command but this was the first time where she had absolutely nothing to do. It was a disconcerting feeling.

Chris could sense what the waiting was doing to her and supposed it was hard for a woman who was accustomed to doing so much find herself with time on her hands. "It shouldn't be too much longer. If worse comes to worse, we'll set down."

Mary eyes the moon before her and saw a world that was largely barren and covered with craggy terrain. She felt no immediate to desire to see it up close. "I'm fine. I'm just not used to waiting around with nothing to do."

"I noticed." He replied. "Think of it this way, at least you're not sharing the same space with Captain Perkins."

He could feel her bristling without turning around to look. The emotions she exuded whenever Louisa's name was mentioned was stormy to say the least and he was surprised by the kernel of jealousy he sensed from her. "Are you still thinking I'm attracted to Louisa?"

"Of course not!" She scoffed but Chris could sense in her voic her voice she was lying. "I'm sure you have better taste."

"Taste has nothing to do with it," the Jedi replied, grateful he was sitting with his back to her so she could not see the smirk he was wearing on his face. "She is attractive."

"I suppose to a man she might be considered pretty."

"Very pretty." Chris could not resist adding.

Mary felt silent for a moment. "Are you torturing me for a reason?"

"Yes," he said with a completely straight face. "You should know better by now."

Silence fell over them with that statement and Mary felt her cheeks flush because something in the way he said that made her skin tingle and suddenly, Louisa was the farthest thing from her mind. They had not spoken about their feelings for each other like this before. Ever since Stephen's death, it had hung there awkwardly, like some no man's land neither dared approach. Mary knew even though she admitted it to no one, despite the loss of Stephen and how badly it affected her, her feelings for Chris were extremely passionate. Yet she did not know how to deal with them in the wake of her husband's death.

"Should I?" She finally found her voice enough to speak.

"You should." He answered. "I..."

Suddenly, a voice crackled through the air from the com unit's speaker. "Chris, come in." 

"What's up Vin?" Chris swallowed, brushing away the moment now the opportunity was lost. "Have you found something?"

"Yeah, I got in contact with a friend of mine in the business. Apparently, Jabba the Hutt has been after Buck."

"Why?" Mary blurted out first. "What would he want with Buck?"

"I don't know," Vin replied automatically. "But it's got something to do with the Maw."

"The Maw?" Mary responded with just as much confusion as Vin when he first heard the reference. "What's that?"

Chris was not listening. His mind was whirling back to the past where the name held its most potency. "Vin are you absolutely sure?" Chris asked after a moment. "Jabba wants Buck for the Maw?"

"Yeah," Vin confirmed it a second later. "What is it?"

Chris took a deep breath and answered. "The Maw is a collection of super black holes in the space between Yavin and Almania. The only way to fly through the thing without getting caught is to ride the event horizons until you get to the other side. It's considered impassable."

"Then why do they want Buck?" Mary asked aghast at anyone attempting to pass through such a heinous part of space.

"Because, Buck's the only one's whose ever made it across alive. Everyone else has died in the attempt." Chris said gravely with the realization if Buck was in the Maw, then his hopes of getting to his old friend was next to impossible.

"Chris, there’s more." Vin responded through the scrambled frequency. "Alex and I asked around and we found out the bounty hunter Dengar who was after Buck was on Gamorr."

"Does he have Buck?" Chris asked.

"I’m not sure." The confusion in the apprentice’s voice was plain. "He left here about the same time the _Rogue_ , bound for Tatooine."

"That’s too much of a coincidence." Mary remarked.

"I agree," Chris nodded and fell silent for a moment. In truth, he was not at all happy at the idea of returning to Tatooine. He promised Ben Kenobi to safeguard the secret existing on that world and the best way do so was to stay away from the planet altogether. It would be extremely dangerous if the Empire or worse yet, Vader to take an interest in the planet because of a rebel presence there. Still, it was clear their enemies in this situation was not the Empire and he doubted if Jabba and his minions would have any interest in what a Jedi Master was doing on Tatooine if it had nothing to do with their personal affairs.

"So do we go to Tatooine?" Vin asked, perfectly aware as well as Chris why caution was needed.

Chris let out a sigh and saw no other way out of it. "I guess we do. Since we don’t have much of a choice otherwise."

* * *

The pod racer was a thing of beauty.

JD had seen enough of them in his lifetime to know one from sight, even if this was the Tatooine version of it. The craft gleamed under the twin suns of the Tatooine sky and beckoned him with promises of speed and all things enchanting to one who loved the challenge. As much as JD would love to say his interest was purely for the love of the race, he saw an opportunity to survive his incarceration should Buck fail to cross the Maw. Even though, JD was of the firm belief if anyone could survive the treachery of the Maw, it would be Buck Wilmington, he also realised if he could escape, then Buck would not have to undertake the dangerous trip which would most likely get him killed.

Following their departure from the space port at Mos Eisley, the bounty hunter Dengar was met by more of Jabba's guards, a colourful collection of aliens that soon had JD bundled into the local version of an all terrain vehicle, called a land speeder, before departing the town all together. Once past Mos Eisley, JD came to the firm conclusion Tatooine as a hellish place of seemingly endless deserts. It was beyond comprehension how any thing could survive in the searing heat according to Dengar, who did not mind talking to him now  he was about to deliver JD to Jabba, Tatooine was home to moisture farmers, sand people and jawas. JD seemed to recall  Vin had come from Tatooine and could not imagine how any human could call this world home.

JD recognised Jabba's palace the moment he saw it. The formidable structure, constructed on the edge of a cliff was once the temple to the Bomar Monks. The Bomars were a strange religious order who believed the path to true enlightenment could only be attained if one were to discard ones body and exist in a mechanical receptacle housing the brain only. Unsurprisingly, the order  _did not_  get many converts.

Upon reaching the palace as Jabba's employees referred to it, the enormous doors heaved open and allowed the land speeder into the main compound. It was there JD had spied the pod being prepared by its technicians for a race. JD had been involved in enough of them to recognise the fanfare that took place prior to such a contest.

"She's a beauty." JD remarked to the Twileki mechanic working under the hood when he was ushered off the speeder and led to make his audience with Jabba. "When does she race?"

"In two days." The Twileki responded.

The Gamorrean guard behind JD sniggered, inspiring the Twileki's annoyance to no end. "You think it is funny?" He hissed at the large porcine alien. "We will see how funny it is when his Excellency flays us alive for his displeasure!"

JD did not like the sound of that at all but simply could not contain his curiosity and had to ask. "Why?"

"His pilot angered him and so Jabba had him fed to the Sarlaac." Twileki grumbled. "Now we do not have any one who is good enough to fly this creation and if his Excellency is not represented in the race, it will be very bad for us."

 _May fortune favour the foolish_ ,  JD told himself. "I used to race."

The Twileki's eyes widened while the Gamorreans started to laugh. Even Dengar seemed amused but did not laugh, instead he gave JD what seemed like a look of concern.

"Do yourself a favour and shut up kid." 

"You are human." The Twileki pointed out. "Humans are not fast enough to pod race. Everyone knows that. No human has accomplished that in almost thirty years!"

"I won the pod races at home." JD said confidently. "Odete may have been a backwater but we knew how to race and I was the best. I might have gone on to Coruscant if I didn't get side tracked."

The Twileki stared at him critically. "I know of the races in Odete." The alien rubbed the long appendages dangling from his skull like a flowing hat. "They race well there."

"They do," JD said with a little smile. "This little pod of yours looks like she might be worth a run. If you can convince Jabba to keep me alive, I might consider taking it out for you."

"Your presumption is beyond belief," the Twileki pretended to disregard the idea but JD could tell he was very interested in the proposition, not to mention the prospect of giving his prized creation a chance to prove itself. "His Excellency may choose to eliminate you and I doubt anything I have to say would change that but if you are as good as you say, I still may try."

"You do that," JD replied as Dengar finally shoved him forward to keep him moving and possibly from saying anything else to land himself into deeper trouble. "Just don't take too long, that race is in two days, I'll need to get a feel for her and the course."

When they had left the Twileki behind, JD found Dengar looking at him, a smile of bemusement on his craggy face. "I'll say this for you kid, you got guts."

"Thanks." JD answered, feeling a little pride at the compliment.

"Let's just hope we won't see it splattered on the course."


	8. Gifts

It was not often Inez Recillos had opportunity to visit the Cordoba Imperial out post but Ezra had come to learn it was usually the result of some urgent business that could not wait until his next visit to the Four Corners’s tavern.

When Claire announced Inez was requesting permission to see him, he immediately dispatched his first officer to the odious task of conducting a surprise inspection of the base hangar bays, an undertaking that would expend her time quite completely for the next few hours. Unfortunately it would do nothing for her disposition. Nevertheless, Ezra’s autonomy over his command was something she could not disobey if she wanted to remain his first officer for any length of time. Though fuming as she went, Julia had complied with the order and ensured his audience with Inez was conducted in privacy. 

Claire showed Inez into Ezra’s office shortly after all the arrangements were completed. The arrangements being Julia, who was now on her way to the far side of the base and the activation of the devices installed in the room to ensure their conversation was not being monitored by any covert means. It was a measure he was forced to adopt prior to Julia’s arrival at the base, since he was painfully aware her purpose here was for more than just being his second in command. Claire who had affiliations with the Rebel Alliance herself, made sure he was protected from any such implications and Ezra in turn ensured her loyalties were never questioned. They made a good team and sometimes, Ezra wished he could take her completely into his confidence but knew it was not wise. If either of them were placed under any form of duress, they might unwittingly give each other away. 

Claire showed Inez into his office and then made a discreet exit. The young adjutant had no idea about Inez’s affiliations with the Alliance and Ezra wanted to ensure that state of affairs remained. As far as she was concerned, Inez’s presence in his life was merely romantic. It suited Ezra for her not to know otherwise. Once Claire departed, Ezra ensured all his security devices were activated before he gestured Inez to sit at the chair he had pulled out for her, in front of his desk. It felt somewhat odd for him not to see her in the reassuring confines of the tavern but he was nevertheless pleased to see her. She was still dressed in the clothes she wore while tending bar so whatever had brought her here, must have been important enough for her to leave the establishment abruptly. 

"What has happened?" He asked immediately, albeit in a low voice. 

"Bucks’ been taken by Jabba the Hutt." Inez answered in turn, keeping her tone just as hushed. 

"The gangster?" Ezra’s brow cocked in surprise. "What interest would Nal Hutta have in a rebel pilot?" 

"According to the Alliance, they want him to fly through the Maw." Inez’s expression shuddered visibly at the thought and the fear in her eyes surfaced despite her best efforts to hide it. She remembered when Buck had undertaken the crossing the first time and never regretted her love for the pilot until then. She had not been able to imagine anyone taking such a ridiculous risk. It was part of the reason why they had went their separate ways. She had been unable to tolerate him taking so many risks with his life especially when he thrived on them.

"What pray tell is the Maw?" Ezra looked at her, never having heard the term before.

"I don’t have time to explain it to you now but it’s a treacherous area of space that no one has been able to cross except Buck," Inez explained in one breath. "Mary wants you to rendezvous with a rebel ship within the hour and take command of the  _Purgatory_. She needs you to go after Buck. Chris and the others are on their way to Tatooine."

His expression became nearly ashen from disbelief. He wondered if they knew what they were asking of him but supposed they did if they were desperate enough to ask. "I do not understand, I thought Buck was kidnapped by Jabba the Hutt. If that is so, he will be on Tatooine."

"They’re not sure." Inez explained, becoming agitated because she was being revisited by old fears, especially about the Maw. She had remembered how uncomfortable Buck had been discussing the place, even after he made it across successfully and became the only pilot to ever manage the feat. However, he had spoken about it enough for Inez to know he would be terrified of going through the Maw again.  Anything that frightened Buck was something she ought to fear as well. "Chris thinks he might have been taken to Tatooine but there’s also a possibility he might be taken straight to the Maw. If he’s in the Maw, you can’t help him but if you can catch him before he gets there…" 

"I see what you mean." Ezra nodded in understanding. It was likely after Buck had taken his perilous journey through the Maw, Jabba might decide to kill him anyway or worse yet, turn him to the Empire. "Where exactly is this Maw located?"

"Between Yavin and Almania." Inez answered automatically. 

Ezra made a few calculations and came up with a figure immediately. "That is almost a three day round trip."  

"Ezra," Inez implored. "He needs your help." 

"I know," Ezra sighed, aware he could not turn the rebellion down on this matter but the logistics of this were still going to be difficult to work. "He is my friend, I will of course do everything I can."  

Walking over to his desk, he pressed the com unit at the edge of the table and asked Claire to come into the room before facing Inez again. "Is Mary certain she wants me to take charge of the  _Purgatory_?" 

"Yes," Inez nodded. "She was specific about that. Something about you knowing how to get around the Empire if the Hutt has already contacted them about Buck." 

That made sense, Ezra supposed but did not have time to debate the issue any further because Claire entered the office.

"You sent for me?" She asked politely, trying not to seem too interested in what was transpiring between the commander and his lady, even though Claire could not deny her curiosity as they seemed like such an unlikely pair. 

"A situation has arisen." Ezra said firmly. "Miss Inez and I need to take a quick trip off world to tend to some private business."

 "I see," Claire said as a matter of factly. "Shall I make your arrangements for travel?" 

"No," Ezra shook his head immediately. "In fact, I would prefer if the powers that be assume I am still in the Territory."

Claire met his gaze and began to understand. She shifted her eyes towards Inez for the barest hint of a second before turning to him again. "Our listening post in the Feris sector appears to have developed a down transmitter. They had been out of contact for almost a day." She offered a suggestion after much thought. "I was going to suggest we send out a patrol to investigate since the area is rather remote."

"There is a great deal of rebel activity in that area," Ezra pointed, catching onto the scenario she was offering him. "Perhaps I should investigate myself?" 

"I think so," Claire retorted. "It would be unwise for us to send a task force out there prematurely if there was nothing to report."

"I trust you can take care of the incidentals?" Ezra stared at her, allowing everything he needed of her, conveyed through the unspoken words between them. 

"Yes Sir," she nodded. "If you are to depart, it would be best if you did so immediately, before the inspection of the hangar is completed." 

Ezra understood perfectly what she meant. Claire was telling him to leave before Julia came back where his alibi would come under the first officer’s formidable scrutiny. If he wanted to do this thing with the Rebellion then now was the time to depart.  

"Yes," he turned to Inez and gestured towards the door. "I think you are right." 

Inez said nothing, deciding it was best if she commented on the situation as little as possible. Obviously Claire had some idea of what her commander was involved in although she was unaware of how similar the adjutant's situations was to Ezra’s.

"How long will you be away Sir?" Claire asked as Ezra and Inez proceeded towards the door. 

"Four days at the most." He answered. "Are you able to handle things until then?"

"One way or another I shall manage it Sir." She offered him a little smile of confidence.

"Good," Ezra flashed her a return smile before walking out of the room.

* * *

Vin Tanner felt it the moment of he arrived on Tatooine. 

It was like a strobe of light through a thick fog the former bounty hunter could not help but feel drawn to. Unlike the desolate feeling he encountered when Vader pierced through his defences on Zhar, this was a different kind of invasion. This was like being filled with a light so intense and brilliant there was no recourse but to become lost by the pure beauty of it. He had felt many things since becoming a Jedi, some he would never have dreamed, when he first realised the Force was with him. However, all those experiences paled in comparison to this one. If anything strengthened his resolve or brush away the doubts lingering in his mind about what business he had being a Jedi in the first place, it was the sensation of that incredible power filling him the moment he stepped onto the baked soil of Tatooine. 

"Is that what I think it is?" Vin asked Chris shortly after their arrival in Mos Eisley. The  _Tracker_  and the X wing had entered Tatooine's airspace where the rebel fighter set down on the outskirts of the city, allowing Chris and Mary to board Vin's ship in order to make their arrival into town together. They left what passed for the main space port in these parts and blended in with the rest of the locals. In Mos Eisley, that was not hard to do. The planet was a veritable mix of different life forms whose paths intersected in a most cosmopolitan surrounding.  

"Yes," Chris nodded, feeling it himself but with a little more restraint that Vin. "It's the boy."

"How strong is he?" Vin whispered as Alex and Mary walked ahead of them attempting to look inconspicuous as they decided their next move.  

"He is Anakin's son." Chris pointed out. "I'm assuming his level of adeptness will be the same." What Chris did not mention that the boy had to be exceptionally gifted because the Force was exuding from him even though the child had little or no control over it.  

Vin could finally understand why Chris was so adamant about ensuring no rebel or Imperial presence on Tatooine. The child's anonymity was the only thing that was keeping him alive. If Vader ever had reason to come here, Vin shuddered to think what the consequences would be. If an apprentice like him could sense the boy then there was no way Luke Skywalker could hide anything from his father.  

"I had no idea." Vin remarked softly and somewhat in awe. 

"Now you understand," Chris looked at him. "Why he has to be protected at all costs." 

"I do," Vin nodded. "Is your friend here too, the Jedi Master?" 

"Ben's here." Chris answered. "He won't be as easy to find as Luke mostly because he knows how to shield his thoughts. Trust me, if a Jedi Master wants to hide, there's no way in the universe anyone is going to make that different." 

Vin could well believe it. "Well let's stick to why we came here then." 

"Good idea." Chris nodded. "How do we get to Jabba?" 

"Well he has a fortress on the Dune Sea. It's not all that far from the Pit of Karkoon."

"The Pit of what?" Mary asked as she and Alex paused and waited for the two men to catch up. 

"Karkoon." Vin replied as a matter of factly. "Problem is not where he is, but how we are getting to him. There's a reason why they call it a fortress."  

"Can't you get us in?" Alex asked.

"Jabba's extremely suspicious," the apprentice answered after a moment's consideration. "The Hutts are always killing each other, jockeying for position so he's very well protected. Surrounds himself with Gamoreans and anything kind of hired help than don't mind killing and are good at it." 

"Sounds charming." Mary grumbled. "If we go in there with a full frontal assault so to speak, we're going to get Buck killed." 

 "She's right." Chris nodded. "Somehow, we're gong to have to get in quiet." 

"I can get in there without any trouble," Vin confessed and then turned his eyes at both Alex and Mary with a predatory smile that sent shivers up both of their spines. 

"Why are you looking at us that way/" Alex asked suspiciously. 

"I got an idea of how I can smuggle Alex and Mary in." Vin replied, that smile becoming a full-blown smirk, particularly when it was directed at Alex. 

Judging by the look on his face, Chris did not need his Jedi senses to know that it was a method that neither woman would find particularly palatable. "Go on." 

"I would have to bring him a gift." Vin cleared his throat and dropped his gaze to his feet momentarily before adding further. "Actually two gifts." 

"Oh no," Mary started to protest. "Don't even think about it!" 

"Is this really a plan or some misogynistic fantasy of yours?" Alex demanded angrily. "Because you can just forget it right now!"

"It's the only way!" Vin exclaimed in desperation, his earlier amusement subsiding now the idea was out there for all too see and not being received with much favour. Unfortunately, it was the only plan he could think of and thus their only option. "He likes women! Pretty ones. Especially, those who ain't got a lot on!"

"Vin," Mary said firmly. "I am not going to be presented to a Hutt as a gift!"  

"It won't be for long." He returned. "I mean if you want to get inside Jabba's palace that's the only way. As it is I have no idea how Chris is going to be able to manage it. I've known Jabba. Hell I've even worked for him but he still doesn't even trust me enough to let me bring all of you in!" 

"I can get in on my own," Chris said confidently before turning to Mary. "You said you wanted to help. If this is the only way in, we don't have much of a choice." 

"Damn!" Mary swore again, turning away. "Are you telling me that I'm going to have to do this? Wear a slave girl's outfit and prance in front of that that oversized slug!" 

"Don't forget oversized drooling slug." Alex pointed out. 

"Well thank you for that necessary observation," Mary glared at her friend.  

"What are you mad at me for?" Alex retorted. "I have to wear the same stupid outfit and I'm as out of practice at prancing as you are. Just be grateful that he's incapable of doing anything else but look." 

"What do you mean....." Mary trailed off before wrinkling her nose in disgust. "That's appalling! You just had to put that picture in my head didn't you?"

"Actually," Vin cleared his throat again. "What Jabba lacks in anatomy, he tries to make up for....."

"Vin," Chris spoke up before the apprentice could finish his sentence. "We don't need that much detail." 

"If I end up having to defend my virtue against a Hutt," Mary turned on Vin. "You will never live to become a JEDI!"

"What she said." Alex added sweetly.

Vin suddenly had a feeling this was going to be a  _really_  long day.

 

* * *

The trip through hyperspace was normally a period of inactivity Buck Wilmington loathed because there was little he could do but wait until his ship had passed through the dimensional realm that allowed for faster than light travel. However, on this occasion, Buck felt grateful for the prolongation of his stay in hyperspace, mostly because it would delay his inevitable arrival at the Maw. For a man unaccustomed to fear, the Maw terrified him beyond belief mostly because to him it was no legend, no figment of someone's fanciful imagination. The Maw real and its reality was far worse than anyone's nightmares.

Perhaps the most disconcerting about a black hole was the fact beyond the swirling masses of the event horizon was an area of space that was so black that it seemed not like the entrance to a singularity but a gateway to some dark hell. Certainly Buck felt that way when he first made the journey through it. It had been the only time in his life where he had been afraid of being inside that cockpit and it was a feeling he never wanted to feel again. It froze the insides of his soul to think he would ever be afraid of flying unfettered in the sky. As a child, he knew instantly he belonged there and through the space was his playground, he would always be free. To feel chained by something one loved so much was a terrible thing indeed and those were just one of the terrors he faced that fateful trip. 

"You sure you boys are ready for this?" Buck asked as he sat in the pilot's seat, ruminating on the Maw and its effect upon his life. He lost Inez because of this spacial monstrosity and though he was forever recognized as the man who crossed the Maw, all he could think about was the loss of the only woman who had ever meant more to him than his sainted mother.  

"I think you talk big Weelmington." Nardo declared from the co-pilots seat. "I think the Maw is nothing and you make it out to be so terrible to keep the rest of us from trying." 

"Fine," Buck snorted in disgust and removed his hands from the controls. "Why don't you fly her then? When we come out of hyperspace and you'll know it when we do, you can take the controls." He challenged the Rodian with every intention of letting the fool try. 

"I am not the one whose pup Jabba is warming for the Sarlaac's belly." Nardo hissed with a malevolent smile. 

"Jabba ain't as dumb as you." Buck retorted. "He can't get his payoff unless I make it through and if I even think that JD is dead. I'll fly the  _Rogue_  straight into hell and take his goddamn cargo with me."

"Enough." Selkik grunted in annoyance. "Jabba will honour his agreement if you honour yours." The Gamorrean looked at Nardo, defying him to say anything further to aggravate their pilot, especially when they were so close to the Maw. "Now you will concentrate on getting us there." 

Buck started to smile. "Ain't no reason to concentrate," he said smoothly and eased back into the captain's seat. "The Maw will tear you out of hyperspace. You see, the gravitational fields from those super black holes are like nothing you can possibly imagine. They destabilize hyperspace. It's like trying to hold a bubble together in water during a typhoon. It's just not possible. The  _Rogue_  will come out of it alright, pulled out of hyperspace like a screaming baby from its mama. Once we're out, you don't see anything except swirls of white, moving round and round. For a few seconds, it almost looks pretty until you stare into its dark eyes and see nothing there. You know what's worse than the most terrible thing you can imagine? Nothing. That's what you see in the eye of a black hole, nothing. It almost feels like it ain't got no soul, which of course it doesn't. It just looks back at you and tries to draw you in. If you caught, you won't even know it. You think you're getting away and sometimes, when time stretches it almost feel like you have until you realise that you're being pulled into a singularity, atom by atom." 

"Shut up!" Nardo broke first. "You are just trying to frighten us." 

"No I'm not Nardo," Buck said seriously. "You want to come with me into the Maw, then that's what you're going to be risking." However, the devil in Buck Wilmington could not resist adding with a wicked smile. "I just thought you ought to know."


	9. Role Play

"I can’t believe I’m wearing this thing." Mary Travis grumbled as she sat in the back of the land speeder as the terrestrial vehicle took them through the Dune Sea towards Jabba’s fortress. It was bad enough the heat on this world with its twins suns was hellish, but to be wearing this outfit made of leather and string was beyond humiliating. 

"I think you look great." Vin looked over his shoulder and smiled. In truth, both she and Alex looked extremely delectable although he was not about to make any more specific observation about Mary when Chris was around.

"From the voice of morons." Alex grumbled, similarly disgruntled at the scanty garments she was forced to wear. She stared down at her exposed cleavage and felt another need to pull the material up in order to cover herself further.  

"Be nice," Vin met her eyes with a wicked smile. "Or I’ll tell Jabba you have a thing for Hutts." 

Alex glared back at her and said sweetly, "Do that and Jabba won’t the only one who lacks the anatomy to deal with human females."

"Ouch." He chuckled obviously enjoying her discomfiture.

"You’re having way too much fun with this." Chris gave him a look from where he was seated in the back with Mary.

At present, they were travelling at high speed over the Dune Sea, an area of Tatooine known to be inhabited by the Sand People. Chris felt a little uneasy because it also the residence of Ben Kenobi but shrugged off the concern because the Dune Sea was almost thousands of miles of open desert and the chances of their confrontation with Jabba the Hutt spilling over into Ben’s location was remote. Chris could tell that despite Vin’s jokes at the expense of the ladies, the former bounty hunter was being visited by images of home. This was after all, the world where he had been born a slave, the world he had been forced to escape in order to know any taste of freedom.

Chris saw the parched desert sands running as far as the eye could see and thought how different from Corellia this was and could not imagine anyone growing up in such a harsh place. However, Vin’s hardiness had everything to do with the fact he had been a native of this planet. Growing up in an environment like this tended to make a man tough and Vin had grown up under the tutelage of the Sand People, Tatooine's most resilient folk and had survived his slavery learning their ways.

"Nothing about Tatooine is fun." Vin remarked quietly as he drove the land speeder over the endless crests of dunes that seemed to be ahead of them.  

"You were born here weren’t you?" Mary asked recalling something about Tatooine being in Vin’s past.

"Yeah I was," Vin answered, allowing his gaze to sweep across the horizon in the direction of the moisture farm he could not see from here but had been the place where he and his mother  lived. It had been months since he had been back to Tatooine but Vin could not help thinking if his father was from here too. Since meeting Chris and discovering the Force inside of him, Vin wondered if Chris was right; that perhaps his father had been a Jedi. One of these days, he was going to have to make a serious effort to find out even if the trail to begin was almost non-existent.

Alex could tell that Vin was uncomfortable about speaking about so personal a subject and surprised herself at her empathy with his feelings. "So what happens when we get to Jabba’s palace?" She asked, in an effort to change the subject.

Vin glanced at her briefly, sensing the real reason for her question and allowed a faint smile to cross his lips. This was one meant for her specifically, devoid of cockiness and humour but something that came from the heart and had more power to move her than she had thought possibly. She turned away; feeling slightly embarrassed at having been caught out.

"Well once we get to the security perimeter we’ll go according to plan and let Chris out. It’s about a mile or two to the fortress so you should be able to make it in good time once I’ve found JD." Vin replied looking at Chris.

"The kid’s there." Chris said firmly. "Now that we’re closer, I can feel him."

"What about Buck?" Mary asked automatically. "Can you sense him?"

A visible frown crossed over the Jedi’s face and he shook his head slowly. "I don’t sense anything from Buck. Not a goddamn thing."

All he could sense was this empty void where Buck should be. It was almost as if whatever surrounded Buck was not of the galaxy but seemed to exist a part from it because it was beyond the power of the Force. In all his life, Chris never sensed anything like it and his reason for finding Buck other than the obvious was to learn what was the nature of this mysterious void. Was it a weapon to use against Jedis? A new toy Palpatine had fashioned to continue his war against the Jedi? Chris did not know for certain but he could not deny it frightened him a little.

"I’m sure he’s alive." Alex declared optimistically. Alex did not know the young man very well but was aware he was something of a favourite among the six men Mary secretly called the Magnificent Seven. "If Casey is right, he's probably getting into more trouble than he’s worth." 

"I suppose if they wanted Buck to cooperate with them, taking JD would make sense." Mary mused as she considered what the young man was doing on Tatooine. "I mean what else would make Buck agree to fly the Maw if he barely made it through the first time?"

"She’s right." Vin agreed. "It would explain why Dengar took off in his own ship and Buck took off on the _Rogue_. He probably delivered JD to Jabba for safe keeping so  Buck would do as he was told. Its sounds like Jabba’s style alright," Vin added with a hint of distaste.

It would also explain why he could sense JD and not Buck, Chris thought silently to himself. Even now, he could feel the young man’s presence in the Force. Earlier on, it had been difficult to detect because of his proximity to JD and the lack of any long established link between them allowing for easy detection. While Chris could not pinpoint exactly where JD was, he knew they were getting close to his present location. Buck was in an entirely different situation. Other than being told by Crawl he was needed to fly through the Maw, Chris had no sense of him as at all.

"Did you work for him long?" Mary asked as she brushed a loose strand of gold hair from her face. Her hair was bound into a thin braid that spilled over her bare shoulders.

Despite all his efforts not to, Chris could not help but admire how lovely Mary looked in her rather scandalous clothes. The outfit was designed to show every bit of curve she possessed and to its credit, Chris had to confess she looked utterly spectacular. From the way the material clung to her slender form, to the way the slit on either side of her revealed, long, supple legs, it was enough to shake the resolve of even the most disciplined Jedi Knight. It was hard to picture her as the responsible rebel leader when once saw her like this.At the moment, she seemed more comfortable lounging about in one of those luxurious pleasure resorts that were prevalent in the core systems.

Chris also found himself thinking in very un-Jedi like fashion that if Jabba the Hutt laid one slimy finger on her, it would be the last thing the Hutt would ever do in this life. While Chris was not possessive or territorial over Mary, he did feel a lady of her standing deserved to be treated with respect. The situation required her to carrying on this façade of playing the slave girl but Chris did not like it any better than she did.

She was simply too good for it.

"I worked for him on an off for a couple years," Vin replied. "He was one of my first few clients after I gave up playing bodyguard."

"You played bodyguard?" Alex stared at him. That part of Vin’s history was unknown to her since his reputation was mostly based on his career as a bounty hunter.

"For a while," Vin replied shortly. "It didn’t work out too well so I gave it up." 

Chris turned to Vin at that statement, sensing something veiled behind those few words. The apprentice was keeping his inner shields firmly in place in regards to that subject and Chris had too much respect for his privacy to delve further into what the younger man was hiding.  

He supposed that like everyone, Vin was entitled to his secrets. 

* * *

Ezra Standish wanted to know what the hell he was doing on the bridge of a rebel ship in command. 

When Inez made the request of him, Ezra had needed to think twice. Buck was in trouble and he needed help, Ezra had not thought beyond that. Obviously Ezra could not conduct any search through Imperial channels without compromising himself thus the provision of the _Purgatory_ at the time seemed like a sensible idea. However now he was here, seated in the chair normally taken up by Mary Travis, Ezra decided perhaps he ought to have given this a little more thought before assuming command. While the rebels around him understood he was someone to be trusted, they could not get past the fact he was not exactly a member of the Alliance and when he left the bridge of this vessel, it would be to assume command of an Imperial command. 

Fortunately, the first officer of the vessel, Lieutenant Commander Chano was well aware of who Ezra was even if he did not make that revelation known to his wife who was Ezra’s own adjutant. When Chano had learned Claire Moselley was not brought into Ezra’s confidence regarding his rebel sympathies, Chano chose not to tell Claire about it as well. Obviously Ezra had his reasons and Chano guessed it might have to do with his wife’s protection as well as Ezra’s own. As far as Chano was concerned, if Mary trusted her ship to Ezra then that alone was good enough for him. So far, the man had made no ill decisions and had taken Chano’s opinions in good stead. He displayed all the earmarks of a good commander and Chano was convinced Mary had done right entrusting the _Purgatory_ to Ezra. 

Inez had opted not to follow Ezra onto the _Purgatory_ and they had parted company shortly after she brought him details of the rendezvous he would have to make with a rebel shuttle in order to be taken to the _Purgatory_. Ezra noted her worry for Buck and could not help feel a tinge of jealousy at the possibility that her feelings for her ex-husband might be deeper than she let on.  

"Does the data base have anything on the Maw?" Ezra asked following their jump into hyperspace. 

It would take several hours to reach the stretch of space where the Maw was supposed to be. Ezra knew if that had been Buck’s original destination when he had blasted off Gamorr using those tell tale registration codes then their hopes of catching up to him were next to impossible. Even as they travelled to the wilderness between Almania and Yavin, the reality of the situation was that the _Rogue_ could already be battling the Maw. What made the whole thing worse was if that were indeed the case, Ezra could do nothing to help Buck until he crossed the treacherous terrain.  

"Not really." Chano answered. "My grandfather used to say that it was the gateway to hell." 

"Not entirely an inaccurate description." Ezra remarked with a smile. Chano  made some mention of his grandfather being and ore captain in his day. It appeared that like most spacers, Chano’s grandfather had his own theories as to what the Maw was. "A cluster of super black holes can be considered that if one is unfortunate to wander into its path."

"It’s going to disrupt sensors severely." Chano said grimly. "Its will be difficult to locate Captain Wilmington if he’s already in the Maw." 

"I believe he already is," Ezra returned without hesitation. "He had a head start on us and if he is under coercion to enter the Maw, I find it very unlikely if he has not already arrived there." 

"So what are we going to do?" Chano stared at Ezra, unhappy to think that they would be completely helpless when they finally arrived at their destination. 

"The only thing we can do," Ezra glanced at him. "Wait." 

"Wait?" One of the junior officers on the bridge blurted out. "What about the Captain?’ 

Chano glared furiously at whomever had spoken and identified immediately a furry Bothan with the bad habit of speaking out of turn. The first officers turned to the navigation officer with a scowl because Mary would not be treated with such insubordination and Ezra should not have to put up with it either. "Ensign, we are well aware of the Captain’s situation without requiring your input." Chano said sharply, already writing that reprimand in his head.

"The ensign’s question is noted," Ezra spoke up smoothly, grateful for Chano’s annoyance for his sake. However, Ezra could appreciate how the crew of the _Purgatory_   might look upon him with suspicion and Buck Wilmington had legendary status among the rebel junior officers who were well aware of the man’s skill as a pilot. Turning his direction to the Bothan, Ezra met the young officer’s gaze and explained himself, aware  he was not required to but hoping the gesture would mean something to the others on the bridge who had doubts about him.

"A ship the size of _Purgatory_ does not have the manoeuvring capability to survive the Maw. If what I was told about the area is accurate, the intense gravitational forces would tear us apart if we made any attempt to retrieve Captain Wilmington. In truth, he would have better chance of navigating the Maw than we would. I also have no intention of risking almost a thousand people on this ship to rescue one man. No matter how valuable that man might be, I am sure Commander Travis would agree with me if she were here. Our mission is to assist the Captain once he makes it through the Maw. With Nal Hutta being involved, there is a chance  once the Captain completes the trip, those who have coerced him into this situation may no longer have any need for him. They may choose to dispose of him and take his ship. We will be on hand to ensure that does not happen." 

"Does that satisfy your curiosity, ensign?" Chano asked the navigator with an icy edge to his voice. 

The Bothan swallowed thickly and answered. "Yes Sir." 

"Good," the first officer retorted, his voice dripping with promise that when this trip was over they were going to have a private discussion about this matter.  

Ezra saw the slight prickle in the Bothan’s fur and was glad that he was not on the receiving end of that irate voice. The Imperial officer had no doubt that while Mary sometimes came on board and took charge of the _Purgatory_ , it was Chano who ensured everyone and everything on it ran smoothly for her to perform her feat of devilry on the Imperial fleet. With a smile, he realized that Chanos’ wife Claire, played the same role for him on the Cordoba base and could see why they were so well suited. 

"You always run such a tight ship Commander?" Ezra asked with the faint hint of a smile. 

"I have to keep things from falling apart around the center seat don’t I?" Chano returned just as jokingly. 

Ezra would only offer him a sidelong glance before remarking. "I see where Claire gets it from."

* * *

The wind rushed at JD as he forced the pod through the narrow valley making up part of the racing course. Flanking him on either side were the jagged edges of the valley walls threatening to tear him and his vessel apart if he made one error in judgment. The young pilot banked hard, narrowly avoiding a protrusion of rock that seemed to come out of nowhere as he turned the corner, gliding effortless over the obstruction and then through the eroded pathway out of the treacherous enclosure of rock and sand. JD could feel grains of sand in his skin as the powerful engines of the pod racer blew dirt in all directions. He could feel his face burn from the feel of it rubbing his skin raw and was glad that his eyes were protected because the gust of sand and heat would have surely blinded him otherwise.  

It was almost the best time he had ever had in his life.

The pod was a dream to fly. The Twileki mechanic who designed and built her was in JD’s opinion the best pod man he had ever seen. This vehicle was not just a racer, it was a thing of beauty. If anything reminded him of what it was he abandoned when he had decided to join the Rebellion, it was being in this small craft, ripping through the landscape, challenging fate and sense as he sped through course at speeds no human ought to be travelling on land. He was almost euphoric as he guided the pod through the racing course  he would be required to race for real in a day or so. Initially, this had been a bid for escape but now JD was having so much fun he almost forgot all about that.  

When he met the Hutt, the Twileki had spoken on his behalf as promised and beseeched the gang lord the human was capable of winning him the pod racing championship about to take place only two days away. Jabba had not been that impressed with him but was willing to give it a chance for the prestige of winning the race. He had JD fitted with a tracer, a device won around the wrist that would not only monitor his whereabouts at all times but had the ability to discharge enough energy to kill him. JD studied the object in private and was certain he could disarm it if necessary but had to bide his time and wait for the opportune moment. The opportune moment, he decided would be during the race.

Sooner than he would have liked, the treacherous terrain dissolved around him and JD found himself in open and flat country ounce again. Beyond the laborious canyons where most of the race would be run tomorrow was nothing more than flat craggy terrain, covered in sand and rock. It did not take him long to see the small party of Jabba's employees for waiting for his return. If it were not for this stupid tracer around his wrist, he would have kept going and left them  far behind. Certainly none of their land speeders could keep up with the pod if he were to escape. Unfortunately, for the moment, he would just have to tolerate being in their company and began slowing the pod to a crawl as he approached them. 

JD climbed out of the pod and was immediately greeted by Orran Kah, the Twileki who  pinned his hopes of victory at the race tomorrow. JD had wondered whether or not Kah would be willing to help him escape but decided against making the inquiry. Besides, if what he heard about Jabba was true, the consequences to Kah if he should help JD escape would be fatal to say the least and JD was not prepared to sacrifice someone else's life for his own.

"Not bad for a human." Kah declared when JD pulled of his goggles and climbed out of the pod's cockpit. 

JD could tell despite that understated compliment the Twileki was very impressed. However, JD noticed none of these non-humans seemed to think  humans were capable of anything lately. He had a feeling much of this sentiment was due to the backlash from Palpatine's segregation policy. During his one evening in Jabba's throne room, he heard the discussion between the Hutt and his employees about the segregation policy and how quickly it was spreading throughout the quadrant. While the Hutt himself seemed relatively unconcerned, JD noted the same could not be said of the aliens who frequented Jabba's court.

"That's what you say." JD replied cockily. "I saw my time on the chronometer, I was 2 seconds faster than the winner in the last race."

"There's a difference between running the course alone and doing it with others." Kah retorted, not about to concede the human was promising enough to win the race tomorrow despite all evidence to the contrary.

"He did good Kah." Dengar rumbled next to him. Although the tracer JD wore ensured he could not escape, Jabba had nonetheless assigned Dengar to watch him in case he made any foolhardy attempts during this training run through the course. "Better than the last winner I might add."

"Who was this guy?" JD asked.

"Don't remember," Dengar met JD's gaze with a little smile. "The only reason he won was because he was the last one to crash."

"You're kidding." JD asked, certain the bounty hunter was attempting to frighten him but when he turned to the Twileki and saw the man stroking his leku, the appendages that grew from his head rather nervously, JD realised it was the truth.

"How often does anyone finish the race?" JD demanded, starting to get a very bad feeling about this whole thing.

"Does it matter?" Dengar replied. "If you finish the race, you can give yourself a few days before Jabba decides to kill you and if you die on the track, it works out just the same."

JD let out a deep sigh and looked at his tracer, reminding himself he had better think of some way to get the accursed thing off his arm before tomorrow because this deal with Jabba was getting worse by the minute.


	10. The Dune Sea

Buck knew it the minute they entered the Maw. 

Actually,they all came to the realization at more or less the same instant. The ship shuddered violently whilst travelling in hyperspace and Buck who had been keeping a vigil inside his cockpit immediately began shouting at his passengers to fasten themselves into their seats. Nardo, determine to posture to the very last struggled into the compartment that was the brain center of the _Rogue_ and took the co-pilot’s seat, an act with incensed Buck to no end. Unfortunately, kicking the Rodian out of the seat customarily reserved for JD would have to wait. Right now, they had bigger problems to contend with.  

"What’s happening?" Nardo demanded. 

"We’re being pulled out of hyperspace." Buck retorted, his hand flying furiously over the controls of his craft as he responded.  

The evidence of his claim was apparent because through the cockpit window, the sparkle of the iridescent interdimensional nexus was starting to dissipate like a gale breaking up a particularly persistence gathering of cumulous clouds. Hyperspace was dissolving around them and the instruments revealed varying degrees of intense radiation was bombarding the ship. Buck had been prepared for this ever since they began the journey. While he loathed being in this situation again, he was not about to let the Maw claim him like it had tried all those years ago, even if it meant taking Nardo and Selkik with him. 

Emergency klaxons began screaming throughout the length and breadth of the ship and every piece of equipment whose purpose was to inform the pilot of a problem was sounding their alert as well. The sound of structural bombardment could be heard by the heaving of metal as it was plied with forces it could not possibly withstand for too long a time. The ship rocked dangerously as its ability to maintain course became seriously impaired by the tremendous pull of the multiple black holes beyond its hull. The computer repeated its warnings in a calm and serene monotone, a stark contrast to the pandemonium taking place inside the ship. 

Suddenly, the _Rogue_ lunged forward in a powerful burst of speed before slowing again. Around the freighter, the last vestiges of hyperspace dissipated into nothingness and the travellers found themselves in normal space. Stars revealed their sparkling gaze in the indigo sky but for once their brilliance was overshadowed by the awe-inspiring magnificence of the Maw. It was like watching a dozen whirlpools painted onto the canvas of space, currents of event horizons swirled around in continuous circular patterns while at the heart of each one was a single black eye staring back at them indifferently. One could almost be forgiven for being lost in the beauty of what was before them, if not for the knowledge that each of those dark eyes staring at them was death in the most lingering manner possible.  

None of this was new to Buck. 

When he had first made the Run, he had observed it in silent awe as Nardo was doing and undoubtedly Selkik too, from wherever in the _Rogue_ he was presently seated. However, the beauty of the place was fleeting because it was soon replaced by the danger as gravitational forces exerting themselves. The cluster began stripping the hull from the superstructure of the ship like an onion being peeled back, layer at a time. Buck had already pre-programmed the navigational computer to take control of the guidance system because only automation could safely navigate the tremendous forced tugging at the ship without pulling her apart completely. Buck’s main purpose was to maintain his ship on that course because the external forces beyond the ship could easily drag it from its path if there was not a human agent at the controls. Either way, they still had a fifty-fifty chance of getting out of the Maw alive.  

"Is this what it was like Weelmington?" Nardo asked, trying not to appear afraid even though it was apparent to Buck he was quite apprehensive indeed. The tapir like snout of his face twitched intermittently in clear agitation.  

"No," Buck shook his head; his hands fixed firmly on the controls. "It was worse. Smaller ship gets tossed around easily. The best way to manoeuvre in this place is to get yourself a ship that isn’t too big to move around or so small  its going to get caught easily in the gravity wells." 

"How long will it take us to get across?" Nardo stared at him. 

"In normal space? Ten hours." Buck answered automatically, having done all the calculations prior to coming here. 

"Ten hours?" Nardo exclaimed, his dark eyes sweeping across the cockpit, as if he could see the perilous tides tearing at the ship mercilessly. "We will be destroyed in ten hours." 

Buck turned to him sharply and said with a smile. "Well you wanted to cross the Maw." The pilot hissed. "I warned all of you what it was going to be like but you just had to take JD and force me to it didn’t you? I guess you got more than you bargained for on this trip."

"You’ll get more than you bargained for if you do not shut up!" Nardo shouted, the fear making short work of his temper. He drew his gun and pointed it at Buck.  

Buck stared at the barrel of the gun for a millisecond of time before he started chuckling, not at all intimidated by the Rodian’s threat.

"Sure," he said cockily as he faced front again. "Shoot me Nardo. Kill me right here and now and then bend over and kiss your ass goodbye because you’re not getting out of here alive if I ain’t flying this ship."

"Do not be so confident Weelmington," Nardo hissed but clearly, he was in a corner and he knew it. "I could fly this ship of yours."

"You sure about that?" Buck asked, not looking at Nardo because he already had his answer. "You sure you can fly this crate through all that hell outside? If you think you can, then go ahead, pull the trigger." 

Nardo stood there for a moment, trying to decide as if there were really any choice in the matter. Buck knew he would lower the gun soon enough but the Rodian’s arrogant manner would pretend as if he were actually considering the idea. Nardo glanced briefly through the cockpit window again at the chaos beyond before he turned back to Buck again. "I will let you live for now Weelmington," Nardo responded, trying not to sound as impotent as he appeared. "But there will be a time when it will be my pleasure to kill you and your little pup." 

Buck bristled at the reference to JD but reminded himself he had taken action on JD’s behalf. Hopefully, the Imperial network would pick up his departure from Gamorr and Ezra would be notified of the situation. Once that happened, Buck could be assured Ezra would get in contact with the Rebellion who would in turn go to Gamorr and investigate for themselves. With any luck, it might even be Chris who came after him. This would not be so unpalatable if Buck could simply understand what the purpose of all this was. Why go through the Maw to ferry a crate full of furry creatures with no value except as pets? It made no sense.

Why would an Imperial Grand Admiral expend his time in such an endeavour in the first place, to risk going to a gangster like Jabba the Hutt for help? The more he tried to figure it out, the more confusing it got until Buck started to think perhaps there was no discernible pattern at all and the Admiral was almost as bad an instrument of chaos as the Maw he had sent Buck too. 

Or perhaps, this was never about the Maw at all but something else entirely. 

* * *

The security devices Vin referred to were hardly noticeable until one arrived at huge metal door at the base of Jabba’s palace. Upon first sight, Jabba’s palace did not appear so much as palatial as it did a temple of worship, although what the Bomarr Monks practiced could hardly be called a religion. However, the edifice they erected as the center of their religion was quite impressive indeed. The structure was built to withstand the barbarity of the worst sandstorms making up Tatooine’s harsh climate. There was an earthy feel to the place and the circular shaped walls of sand stone allowed the fortress to blend into the backdrop of the vast desert landscape.  

Unlike its palatial surroundings, the main entrance was hardly ostentatious. It was little more than a heavy slab of iron but was nevertheless most formidable when employed in the task of keeping people out. It would take a whole day to cut through it and blasting it would require more explosives than worth the trouble. Not that any one would want to invade a Hutt’s palace anyway. Even if Jabba were killed, the Hutt clan who spawned him would no doubt send killers from Nal Hutta to exact revenge for his death. 

The land speeder was allowed to approach the huge doors and Vin told Mary and Alex, shortly after they deposited Chris at the perimeter of the sensor grid, it was most likely that Jabba’s security people had identified him. When they neared the foot of the doors, a slot in the corner of the door suddenly slid open and allowed the circular head of a inquiry drone to emerge. Little more than a sphere of collared lights attached to a thin metal case containing its circuitry, the drone spoke in spurts of static and words.

"Tell Jabba its Vin Tanner." Vin said coolly, with every expectation to be let in. 

The drone seemed to think otherwise and babbled electronically again in its peculiar language. 

"These girls are gifts for Jabba," Vin responded to the drone’s query about his female companions. "I just picked them up cheap from Bespin. I thought his Excellency would enjoy them." He stretched out an arm and slid it over Alex’s bare shoulders before speaking again. "This one," he threw Alex a wolfish grin, "is quite a spitfire." 

Mary rolled her eyes and Alex groaned in disgust, engendering a chuckle from Vin as he turned back to the probe once again, awaiting its decision to allow him entrance. The probe deliberated for a moment before abruptly disappearing into its slot once again. The minute it disappeared, Alex turned over to Vin and swatted him on the side of the head gently.

"Dream on." She said sarcastically. "That’s the closest you’ll ever get to that ever happening." 

"Okay," Mary interjected quickly before the duo began arguing again. This outfit was way too uncomfortable, the heat too unbearable for her to have to tolerate their bickering as well. "Let’s just get inside. You two can continue the foreplay later." 

"Hey!" Alex cried out. "Take that back." 

"Or what?" Mary asked with a raised brow. 

"Or I’ll tell him what you did with that bottle of Rylothian syrup, that warrant officer and the bathtub." 

"Oh I have to hear this," Vin joked looking over his shoulder unable to believe that prim and proper Commander Travis could be engaged in something so salacious but then he also heard about Chris and the four girls on Coruscant so nothing surprised him anymore. 

"Not if you want to live," the rebel leader said dryly. "And you," she turned to her oldest friend. "Did you have to tell him _that_ story?"  

"As your best friend,  _of course_." Alex replied with a perfectly unrepentant expression on her face that did not surprise Mary in the least. It was nice though, to have someone around who did not see her merely as Commander Travis but rather as Mary. It made her somewhat sad to know Alex would soon be returning to her covert activities.  

Mary’s attempt to respond to Alex’s mischief came to an abrupt halt when the activation of large machinery shattered the silence of the desert afternoon. Heavy grinding sounds were heard emanating through the walls of the structure when the doors before them began raising itself from the ground. Only until it lifted itself above their eye line did the new arrivals capture a glimpse of how dense the door actually had been and how formidable it would be if they had been required to breach it by force. Beyond the door there was only darkness with the light from the outside world creating dark silhouettes as Vin directed the speeder into the breach that had opened for them. 

"I guess we’re in." Mary mused quietly as the speeder glided into the darkness. 

"I’m still trying to decide if this is a good thing or not." Alex muttered, less than optimistically. 

Vin could not blame them. He had no idea what rumours might have reached Jabba in regards to his affiliations these days. He seriously doubted he would be welcomed if Jabba knew he was a Jedi Knight and was glad he kept his sabre hidden underneath his clothes. As they entered the stygian confines of the fortress, Vin brought the speeder to a halt in the underground compound. The dark silhouettes they had seen earlier were mostly remnants of old druids, vehicle parts scavenged and other assortments of machinery. At the corner of the large room, a door slid open and a troop of Gammorrean guards marched towards the speeder. 

"They’re here to take us to Jabba," Vin explained as the guards made brisk pace towards them. "When you see him, don’t say much. Jabba likes his women but he also has a quick temper and doesn’t mind killing people just for the amusement and always address him as Your Excellency." 

"You’re joking." Alex whispered in disbelief at the arrogance.  

"Believe it." Vin retorted. "He’s killed people for less."

Mary did not doubt it. If half the stories about Jabba the Hutt were true, they had to tread very quickly if they wanted to make it out of here alive. She was not at all happy about placing herself in the power of the gangster. A lot depended on Jabba assuming she was just a slave girl from Bespin. If he were for a moment to discover who she was, the trouble that JD and Buck were in would be minute in comparison. It made her extremely glad to know they had a back up plan in case their attempts to locate JD went askew. As she saw the Gamorreans reached the speeder, Mary looked over her shoulder and gazed longingly at the outside world disappearing beneath the lowering door and hoped somewhere out there, Chris was watching.  

* * *

A strange thing happened to Chris Larabee on his way to Jabba’s palace. 

He had been continuing the trek across the desert, following his penetration of Jabba’s defensive perimeter making good time towards the Hutt’s palace when suddenly out in the middle of this barren wilderness, he felt himself nearing what appeared to be a life form. It was a single consciousness, alone in the desert, which quickly omitted the possibility it could be one of the indigenous Sand People that Vin told about. The Sand People travelled in packs and to find one alone was rare unless it was in trouble.  It was hungry and alone, with a mind so primitive, Chris assumed it must be in dire straits indeed. He could not tell if it was sentient or not because the hunger it felt was so great, anyy intelligible thought impossible to make out. However, it was obvious the creature was in some need.

Chris let the Force guide him forward, even though he was required elsewhere and could ill afford to be distracted. However, the life form’s proximity indicated he would still be journey towards Jabba’s palace when he encountered it. He could feel the strength of its life as he neared the creature, crossing rocks and sand in order to reach it. In the distance, he could see the barest hint of shape that was Jabba’s palace. The creature was close. He could feel it. Chris was about to peak over the crest of a sand dune when suddenly something slid out of nowhere and wrapped itself around his foot. It happened so fast Chris barely had time to register its presence until he felt his legs pulled out from under him. He cried out indignantly as he hit the sand and became conscious that he was being dragged forward.

Chris had presence of mind to reach for his light sabre and immediately felt the life form’s thoughts becoming urgent. He tried sitting up but the slithery tentacle wrapped firmly around his foot would not give him leverage enough to do so. He had almost resolved himself to wait until he was in a better position to attack when suddenly he was sliding down an incline and with a realization of horror, decided he was out of time. He had no idea was it was but there was no doubt in his mind as he slid towards a mouth full of lengthy teeth, this was the life form he had sensed.  

The life form that was _hungry_.  

The blade came to life in his hands and the incline gave him enough leverage to swing the beam of energy towards the tentacle that had him in its grip. Chris could see the approach of its mouth and decided he was not cutting its way out of the creature’s innards. The lightsabre sliced through the tentacle easily. The mouth did not squeal or make any sound of pain but the spasmodic shudder running through the remaining part of the tentacle flayed wildly in an expression of agony. Chris kicked the remains around his ankle away and scrambled up the side of the pit the creature had taken up residence. The pain the creature suffered was screaming through his mind and though Chris hated to deal with it so harshly, he was glad its pain was preventing it from trying to recapture him. 

Chris reached the top of the pit and saw the creature's other tentacles inching out of the gaping mouth, attempting to recapture the meal lost, now that the pain had subsided. Instead of giving it a target to seek, the Jedi hurried away, continuing the journey towards Jabba’s palace where his companions were awaiting him.

"Next time Larabee," Chris told himself as he put more distance between himself and the mysterious beast, "a little less curiosity." 

* * *

Aside from being known as a ruthless intergalactic gang lord who killed without discrimination or conscience Jabba the Hutt was also known as a being who loved a good party. Those who were fortunate to be in favour and in residence of Jabba's palace could personally attest to the fact by the permanent tenure of jizz bands, dancing slave girls and an assortment of entertainers whose talents raged from promising to downright macabre. Jabba liked to show his people a good time and by that extension enjoy himself as well, but his temper was poised on a knife's edge. One who found himself in favour today could find themselves languishing in the Pit of Karkoon the next.  

Vin Tanner was all too aware of this when he entered the throne room and found himself facing the Hutt for the first time in almost a year. Fortunately, they had not parted on any ill feeling because Vin had always made it clear whilst he on occasion took on jobs for Jabba, he was not an employee. He liked to think Jabba respected him for that eccentricity but that was taking too much for granted. It was never wise to assume anything when it came to a Hutt. The throne room was filled with customary music with Goran Fars Galactic Crooners taking the stage and the attendants at court were chatting amongst themselves while Jabba lay strewn across his dais, dipping into his collection of nala tree frogs at regular intervals. 

The music stopped playing when Vin, Mary and Alex were brought before the Hutt. An abrupt silence followed the cessation of music and the cheerful chatter died down just as surely. Mary and Alex stayed closed to Vin. Although both were capable women in their own right, they felt equally vulnerable and exposed in the scanty revealing clothes. Mary shuddered as she saw a pretty Trianii seated on the pedestal with Jabba, tethered to him by a thin chain and a choker around her neck. The Trianii were a feline race and this one with her silvery pelt, still mottled, told Mary she was barely passed her second moulting, a teenager by human standards. Unfortunately, for the moment, there was little the rebel leader could do to secure her freedom since she herself was here to play the part of pet slave. 

"Vin, my boy, it has been a long time." Jabba's deep voice rumbled and though the language was unintelligible to Mary and Alex, Vin understood perfectly well what the Hutt was saying. One did not spend the first seventeen years as the property of a Hutt without learning Huttese.  

"Its good to see you again Jabba." Vin answered. He was one of the few people who were actually allowed to call Jabba by his name. "Things don't look like they've changed much around here." 

"But you have changed." Jabba remarked, his huge yellow eyes narrowing as he spoke. "I hear strange stories about you." 

Vin tensed. "What sort of stories?"  

"They say that you've gone spiritual" Jabba pointed out. "They say you travel now with a Jedi." 

"I was hunting one." Vin lied. "I didn't get him. The Empire put out a death mark on me for that." 

"That is unfortunate," Jabba rumbled with what sounded like genuine sympathy. "You were the best bounty hunter in the galaxy. I have sorely missed having you talents at my disposal." 

"Well I had to go to ground." Vin replied. "The Empire's crazy about the Jedi right now. I really pissed them off by not getting the one they wanted." 

"I find it hard to believe there was a bounty you could not claim," Jabba retorted. "But now you are back?" 

"Yeah," Vin answered with a grin. "The heats off me now and I figured I can still do the work, provided I keep my eyes open just a little more than usual." He glanced at Mary and Alex and then added. "I brought you a little gift to show my good faith."

Jabba cast his gaze on Alex and then Mary. He started to laugh a deep throaty laugh that resonated throughout the chamber. His court seemed to laugh with him and for a moment, both women were perplexed by what they found so funny.

"Forgive me my boy," Jabba responded after a moment. "I never thought you were capable of selecting such handsome women. After all, how long has it been since Atura?" 

Although neither Alex nor Mary could tell what Jabba was saying, Vin's reaction was apparent. The Jedi apprentice stiffened and his face deepened into a frown. 

"Atura was a long time ago." Vin responded. "I've moved on since then." 

"I am glad," Jabba wagged at finger at Vin almost as if he were a father trying to teach his wayward offspring some sensible lesson. "You are too young to be brooding for one woman, especially one that is married and wife to an Imperial governor." 

"I didn't come here for a history lesson," Vin said sourly. "I brought you two gifts as a gesture of friendship and a continuance of our working relationship."

"Of course, of course," Jabba returned enthusiastically and turned a leery eye at Mary. "Bring the golden one." 

Mary swallowed hard, reminding herself that this was just a temporary situation until they found JD. Vin's hand enclosed her upper arm, ushered her forward with just enough force to indicate to Jabba she was a prize bought. Vin led her right onto the dais until she could feel the bloated belly of Jabba's bulk against her bare skin. Mary fought her revulsion because she had seen worse as a soldier but could not deny being this Hutt's slave, even briefly, was revolting.

"You must have paid quite a bit for this one." Jabba asked. "But I have all the pretty ones I need for a time. Perhaps I will feed her to the sarlaac." He dismissed Mary with a wave of his pudgy fingers.

"Pretty one?" Vin thought quickly, completely aware the gang lord was not above doing that. "I didn't buy her for her beauty Jabba, I mean I knew you have a dozen women who are prettier, I bought her because she can sing!" Without missing a beat, he turned to Mary and spoke in standard galactic. "Sing something, quickly."

"What?" Mary stammered. 

"Sing!" He hissed. "Sing or he's going to feed you to the sarlaac!"  

"What's a sarlaac?" 

"Trust me, you don't want to know. Sing!" Vin ordered. 

Mary gulped visibly and started singing an old folk song that she remembered as a child. She had no idea whether or not she could carry a tune but the song was sweet and sentimental and the melody was enough to reach the soul, even in the hands of an amateur who could not carry a tune. Mary seemed to think that suited her. The audience chamber was silent as she continued through the entire song and all its verses. Jabba's lids were half closed as she sang and to her surprise, noticed Vin staring at her with something that was akin to astonishment. Alex was merely smiling, possibly because she was recalling how they used to sing to their favourite songs when they were teenagers.  

After what seemed like a torturous eternity, the song ended and Mary stared anxiously at Jabba, wondering if he was going to feed her to the Sarlaac just for mutilating that song, she certainly deserved it. Instead, the Hutt blinked with a sudden start as if the song's end had snapped him out of the peaceful lull he was presently occupying. Composing himself a second later, the Hutt seemed to laugh, only this time it was not a laugh of derision but rather one of approval. 

"You are no fool Tanner," Jabba replied. "She _can_ sing."  

"Thank you Jabba, I thought you would like your gift." Vin let out a sigh of relief and exchanged a brief glance with Mary who was similarly relieved by the Hutt's approval.  

"You may keep the other one for yourself." Jabba answered after a moment. "I will put a chain on her if you wish."

Vin looked over his shoulder and saw Alex telling him with her eyes that he would die if he dared. With a smirk, he turned to Jabba and grinned. "Your Excellency is too kind."


	11. Passion

Chris knew JD Dunne was not there when he arrived at Jabba’s palace.

He had a sense the boy was close but JD’s exact location remained unknown to the Jedi for the moment. It did not matter really because a tremor in the Force told him this was only a temporary state of affairs and eventually JD would be brought back to the palace. It was just a matter of time and waiting him out. As Chris approached the gang lord’s bastion, the twin suns of Tatooine was already descending beyond the uneven horizon. The temperature was starting to drop rapidly and he had no doubt that while the days on this world were hellishly hot, the nights were bitterly cold. Desert worlds seemed to all share that common trait and Chris had no intention of remaining out here to experience it first hand.

His ability to penetrate Jabba’s fortress was not in question. The advantage of being a Jedi was the ability to pass through places without being seen or remembered. Thanks to a little mental suggestion and a few little feats of illusion, he could go unseen for quite some time. So far the situation warranted his remaining anonymous. Vin’s ruse to infiltrate Jabba’s court had transpired smoothly and for the present, their plan to rescue JD was in a holding pattern as they waited for the young man to arrive. Although their communication was nothing that could be really considered speech, Chris knew Vin's situation nonetheless. They were attuned to each other from the very onset of their first meeting. Chris told himself that it was because the Force was strong in Vin but he was no longer so sure of that. It was the fact Vin reminded Chris so much of himself at a more innocent time of his life that forged their friendship.

Whatever mechanism allowed Chris and Vin to know each other's thoughts, at the moment the Jedi sensed that neither Vin, Alex or Mary was in any immediate danger. Still Chris wanted to be close by, unable to feel any ease with Mary in the equation and was unwilling to take any risks when it came to her safety. Jabba had no idea the valuable commodity he had in his presence in the form of Mary Travis. Whatever the gang lord was being paid in order to force Buck through the Maw would be a pittance in comparison to the king’s ransom he would get if he delivered Mary to the Empire. Chris intended to see he never got the chance.

Chris finally found himself standing at the entrance to Jabba’s fortress.

For a few seconds he paused and took stock of the enormous doors that sealed the palace from the outside world. He had not been there for more than a second when the same drone that emerged for Vin Tanner made its appearance. It sputtered forth the same chattering noises at Chris until the Jedi turned his steely gaze at the drone’s spherical eye and silence it with a wave of his fingers. The drone froze for an instant, its sensors being bombarded with visual information that did not seem right and but was powerless to accept thanks the parameters of its programming. Chris focused another second on the device before it retracted into its slot and disappeared into the steel doors. The Jedi waited for another second before the sound of gears and machinery creaked into motion. He could not sense the presence of anyone immediately behind the doors so when the huge slab of metal raised enough for him to enter, Chris crouched down and snuck in.

Confident his entry remained unseen, he turned around and glanced at the door briefly, pausing its attempt to open completely with a little exertion from the Force. A brief pause followed as it stopped short in its upward ascent and then resumed movement again, only this time it descended towards the floor again. The area immediately after the doors was a large passageway leading to the other parts of the building. Chris had a feeling Jabba had not occupied this place for long because it appeared as if the gang lord was not quite settled in his new home by the way objects were strewn about as if left there for the sake of expediency. The structure itself made Chris somewhat uncomfortable because the traces of past violence were strong in these walls.

The terror left behind by those who had been ‘purified’ by the Bomarr Monks who built this temple was very strong indeed. Chris wondered what it was about belief that could turn a sane man into a monster because certainly the Bomarrs had crossed that line long ago. Their involuntary initiates were probably still alive in their mechanical receptacles, if not having been driven utterly insane by their circumstances. Chris shuddered at the thought of being encased forever into metallic hell where there was no sense of awareness vital to being corporeal.

He crossed the darkened entrance and paused when he heard footsteps approaching.

Receding into shadows along the passageway, Chris allowed the two Gamorreans who were on their way to Jabba’s throne room to pass without incident. They emerged from one door way and disappeared up a turn of stairs that led upwards. Waiting a short time after they had gone to see if any more would follow, Chris emerged from his hiding place and ascended the same stairway they had taken.The corridor and the stairs it contained appeared to have been carved out of the rock. Chris wondered if the entire palace had been shaped the same way to suit the needs of the Bomarr of perhaps some other resident predating the Order.

It did not matter he supposed, such thoughts served to occupy his mind instead of worrying about Mary even though he sensed she was in no immediate state of peril. He just did not like the idea of her being in a place like this. It was just so, so sleazy, he thought feeling a little prudish when the thought ran across his mind. It was true through. Mary was too good to be in the company of the likes of Jabba and his cohorts. Chris knew he was being silly. This was a woman who had infiltrated the Black Sun impersonating a hired gun. She had fought battles and stood in command of a rebel base. If anything, she proved she was quite capable of adapting to any situation but Chris knew he was not being guided by logic when it came to Mary. One of these days, he might get around to telling her what exactly dictated his thoughts when it came to her.

The stair twisted through the building, emptying out at corridors along the way.  Chris kept going, interrupted occasionally by the need to slip a suggestion to those who came across him they had seen nothing. It was relatively easy for him to do so in this company because Jabba’s surrounded himself with thugs. He realized he was almost to the throne room when he heard a female voice singing. The voice was melodic and strangely familiar. Chris tried to place it and gave up, brushing it aside as unimportant and choosing instead to focus on reaching the throne room.

He pulled the hood of his robes over himself, concealing his face in the inreasing number of shadows came with twilight on Tatooine. As he approached the throne room, he could hear voices chattering amidst  the backdrop of music and tried to make a discrete entrance. Smoke and liquor drifted to him as he reached the last leg of his journey and the mood indicated a party of some intensity was taking place.

When he emerged into throne room, he was hardly noticed because it was filled with people from an assortment of races. Jabba’s court was clearly in a mood for entertainment with lithe and graceful dancing girls prancing in the middle of the floor for the Hutt’s viewing pleasure. Droids serving drinks moved through the room carrying exotic concoctions. Chris found it relatively easy to lose himself in the crowd and helped himself to one of the cocktails so as to not look suspicious. He spotted Vin almost immediately. His Padwan learner was seated next to dais where Jabba was perched. Seated on the floor next to Vin, no doubt cursing a dozen ways she could disembowel him was Alex, wearing around her neck a choker attached to the chain presently in Vin's hand.

Vin knew the instant Chris was in the room but hid any overt signs of recognition. However, he still managed to briefly shift his attention away from he chanteuse who captured most of the room’s attention and glanced at Chris in acknowledgement. Both he and Vin agreed nothing would be done until JD was here and they knew he was not yet. However, Chris's thoughts about the youth were driven away when Chris realised who was singing. His jaw fairly dropped when he saw Mary at the head of the jizz band and was stunned by the realization it was her voice he had been hearing.

She was standing in front of the band, singing quite confidently to a group of people. She had dispensed with the slave girl's outfit he had last seen her in and was wearing a skin-tight gown of cryosilk that shimmered when she moved. Chris swallowed thick, never having seen her look so female. He had become accustomed to seeing her in a uniform or in fatigues. The dress kept her shoulders bare and her blond hair shimmered just as breathtakingly against her alabaster skin as the shiny material she wore. She moved on high heels, the part in the front of her dress revealing a set of incredible legs that almost made him forget why he was here.

 _Get a grip, Larabeem,_ he told himself as he watched her commanding the audience with the same ease she commanded him, all the while thinking he never even knew she could sing.

* * *

JD was starting to have a real bad feeling about this whole idea of racing tomorrow.

Hearing the stories about the track on Tatooine, particularly the last winner who earned the distinction simply because he was the last person to be killed before reaching the finish line had a tendency to put a damper on JD's racing spirit. Still, his entire plan of escaped hinged on being inside the pod tomorrow. Unknown to Dengar and the other guards who were keeping close eye on him during his practice runs, JD had managed to steal a hydro spanner hoping he could use it to remove the tracer keeping him trapped in Jabba's power. As much as he would like to race, he was more concerned with escaping so he could help Buck.

Realistically, JD knew it was probably too late for that.

By now Buck would already be crossing the Maw and while JD could not begin to imagine what that might entail, he did remember the fear in his friend's face when he was forced into it and it was this that stayed with JD the most. Buck was never afraid of anything but he was afraid of the Maw and that told JD a great deal. JD also knew if anything happened to Buck out there, he would personally lead the rebellion to Tatooine and to this place, to string up Jabba's worm ridden hide. That was the one thing in all this that JD was absolute on. Buck was his best friend, not to mention the one person who had given a damn about him when he needed it most. If Jabba's schemes got Buck killed, there would be nowhere in this life or the next that Jabba could hide from JD's vengeance.

Returning to Jabba's palace, JD tried to hide his impatience as his guards led him into the structure. JD hoped they were taking him back to his room. He wanted to get started on disabling this tracer so he could remove the explosive component keeping him trapped with no room to manoeuvre. However, instead of being led to his comfortable cell, they went instead to Jabba's throne room. JD had to confess that for a ruthless gang lord, the Hutt sure knew how to throw a party. JD had spent his first night in the place being hit on by the beautiful women who seemed to be a staple of the court and was a source of great amusement to Dengar and Jabba when he was too shy to do anything about it. Strangely enough, he wondered what Casey would think about it if she knew that beautiful women found him attractive.

She'd _still_ call him a peasant.

Peasant, he snorted to himself as they approached the room and the sound of singing filtered down the passageway. What does she know? JD sighed and knew perhaps he was just wanting to her to know more than he was willing to admit.

"His Excellency has a new singer." Kah pointed out and returned JD's attention to the here and now.

"How do you know?" JD asked the Twileki mechanic.

"He had our last one killed." Kah retorted with a frown. "Didn't like the song she was singing."

JD shook his head, not bothering to hide his disgust and hoped the next chanteuse fared better because he liked her voice and the song she was singing. It reminded him of some of the songs his mother used to sing to him when he was a child. JD suddenly felt a deep sense of longing for her even though the time and the place felt completely inappropriate for it. He wondered what she would have thought of his life now and decided that on some level he did not really want to know. JD doubted the life of a rebel fugitive would have been her first choice but was confident she would have at least approved of his friends who would do anything for him.

When JD stepped into the throne room and saw Mary Travis singing, he realised he was completely right about that.

JD tried to hide his shock, aware she was here for a reason and that reason was probably to rescue him. He forced himself to remain silent and not give her away. Mary's eyes met his and though she was in no position to stay anything, he knew by the hard stare she sent in his direction she was giving him an order and it took no fear of genius to guess what it was. _Stay calm and remain silent._ After that, he barely noticed being pushed into the room by the Gamorrean who was impatient at his sudden pause and wanted him to get moving again. JD's eyes quickly darted across the throne room and found other familiar faces in the fold. He saw Vin sitting and talking to Jabba with Commander Styles at his feet. The former bounty hunter shifted his gaze long enough to make eye contact with him and JD felt his inside swell with gratitude.

_JD._

JD almost stumbled but managed to compose himself enought to hide his reaction to the whisper he just heard in his mind. Without doubt, JD knew then Chris was here as well. He wanted to search for the Jedi but was terrified of giving Chris away so he remained indifferent, wondering if Chris would talk to him again. He thought about initiating contact with the Jedi himself and then knew it was a simple matter of reaching out and letting Chris hear him since it was obvious he had a conduit into JD's brain already.

 _Chris._  JD called out.

 _We're here to help you,_  he heard Chris say.

JD believed it and knew Chris would communicate with him no more because it was dangerous to do so when they were in such hostile surroundings and secrecy was an imperative. Thus, JD turned his attention to Kah in front of him and followed meekly as the mechanic led him to Jabba. Both Vin and Alex looked at him with indifference as he approached even though he knew inwardly he was their sole reason for being here. Dengar next to him, seemed affected by Vin's presence and JD wondered if he was not slightly intimidated at there being another bounty hunter in the Hutt's presence beside himself. For his part Vin toasted his glass at Dengar's direction only to have Dengar snort gruffly at the gesture, his jealousy showing on his craggy face at being upstaged by a bounty hunter he could not possibly best on any level. Vin Tanner's reputation was formidable despite the Empire's bounty on him.

"And how is my newest pod racer?" Jabba asked in that language JD could not understand but whose words were dutifully translated by the protocol droid next to him.

"He is sure to win your Excellency," Kah retorted with much aplomb and pride. "The boy does not underestimate his skill. He is one of the best I have ever seen."

JD turned sharply to Kah, somewhat surprised by that glowing recommendation when the mechanic had grunted something about him being adequate for a human earlier on. However, JD had come to understand if Kah did not produce a glowing report for Jabba then the mechanic would suffer a fate decidedly worse than simply losing his job. For that matter, JD could not see Jabba being very forgiving if he lost the race, which only confirmed his need to get this tracer off himself before tomorrow. Still with Chris and Vin here, JD felt decidedly more at ease and hoped that the Jedi and his apprentice had some kind of plan.

"That is good because if you do not win," Jabba's rumbled with amusement in his voice. "I will feed you both to the Sarlaac."

JD saw Kah shudder visibly and whispered to Dengar, "let me guess, I don't want to know right?"

Dengar only snorted in response.

* * *

Vin excused himself after JD was returned to his cell aware it would be impossible to reach the young man with Dengar and all those guards around him. Dengar did not like Vin as it is and any approach Vin made to JD would give Dengar reason for suspicion. JD was no fool anyway. He would know why Vin was here. However, JD's participation in the pod race added an unexpected wrinkle to their escape plan and Vin saw an opportunity to take advantage of the situation that was too good to resist. Telling Jabba he would like some time to enjoy his 'gift', an excuse he was certain Alex would make him pay for later, the duo returned to the suite Jabba  provided them with so that Vin could contact Chris telepathically.

"If I live to be a hundred, I'll never forgive you for this." Alex grumbled as she entered the room and glowered at Vin who finally relinquished hold of the chain.

'Oh come on," he grinned, "it isn't _that_ bad."

"You try being led around like a pet on someone's leash and see how much you like it."

Vin turned to her and let out a sigh, all his cockiness and teasing discarded for the moment as he approached her. His gaze dropped to the plush carpeted floor as he gathered the nerve to say what was on his mind. They had been battling each other since they met even though it was obvious to everyone else how much he cared for her. Vin did not just care about Alex, he was damn near falling in love with her. Ever since she entered his life, Vin had not felt so strongly for any woman since  _her_ , the one whom he could never talk and about whose memory had became a shadow in his heart since he was driven away from her.

Alex had the power to be all that to him and more. Vin knew it with a sense of awareness that was frightening. He looked at her and not only did he see himself falling hopelessly in love with her, he saw they were bound somehow across space and time, linked through the dimensions. He was aware it sounded like romantic claptrap, inspired by the force of his passion but it was true. No matter where they found themselves in this life or next, he would always love her and without doubt and in this he was absolute, she would always love him. It was a sobering thing; meeting someone your instincts told you was your mate in  _any_ existence and the idea she would soon be leaving made him sick to his stomach.

"Alex, I didn't want him giving you to anyone else." Vin found himself saying after a great effort that required all his courage.

She was surprised by the admission and saw it had taken much for him to expose his feelings like this.

"Vin," she said gently, "I can take care of myself you know?"

"I know," Vin raised his eyes to meet hers. "I just didn't want anyone touching you."

"Really?" She smiled, feeling a wave of emotion when she saw the depth of feeling in his eyes.

He nodded and for an instant of time, they stared at each other and the heat of that first kiss haunting them. Vin reached for her and Alex plunged into his arms as their lips met in hot furious passion. His hands slid over her almost bare back as her warm mouth opened up to him and the surge of need that came over his instincts as her tongue duel hotly with his was beyond belief. Lifting her gently off the ground, Vin took her to the bed with every intention of taking her, even though their present circumstances was wholly unacceptable for such a tryst. He did not care. He had not felt this way about anyone in so long. He had little experience with women in general but since meeting her, he knew together they were right.

Alex had never known a need for any man as she had whenever she kissed Vin Tanner. His lips sent wave upon wave of aching need through her. She wished he would make love to her right there and as his mouth took from her all it wanted, she found herself surrendering willingly. She felt his tongue duelling with her own and felt the softness of the bed as he lowered her onto it. Alex lay willing on the soft material as she felt his mouth slid down her chin and tasting her neck like a meal to be savoured. Her fingers clawed at his back as she felt him pressed against her, the taut muscle against her flesh threatening to splint her reason.

"Alex," he whispered in her ear. "I want you so much."

"Hell yes," she moaned languidly as her fingers ran through his satisfying dark hair...

* * *

If Chris could have blushed he would have.

As it was tactically unwise to continue their discussion face to face, the Jedi has seen Vin's retreat as an opportunity to communicate covertly. Disappearing into the back of the throne room away from the revellers who were very taken with Mary's performance, Chris attempted to establish the mental bond he knew Vin had left in order for him to make. Like Vin, Chris had deduced the best time to effect JD's rescue would be during the pod race tomorrow. Away from Jabba's fortress and the bulk of his guards, Mos Eisley was the perfect place for their escape.

He retreated into the shadows, Mary was still lilting the crowd with her melodic voice and giving him clear indication she was for the moment safe. Easing into the darkness, Chris closed his eyes and tried to make mental contact with Vin to inform him the bid to rescue JD would be best served during the race. He lapsed into a meditative state despite the distractions and knew for Vin it would have been impossible to do because one had to have a high mastery of the Force to be able to filter out the sounds and drop spontaneously into meditation like this. Chris stretched out his thoughts in this limbo state and began a search of the apprentice.

When he found Vin, Chris realised that Vin's mind was somewhere else completely.

Emotions bombarded him. Hot erotic waves of desire surged involuntarily into the Jedi's mind, making him feel the passion that the apprentice was experiencing at that exact moment. It came with such a violent rush of feeling that Chris had no choice but to be swept away by it. He felt desire, burning hungry need and an almost blinding sense of love that its intensity was staggering. It was in this vortex of emotion that Chris realised what he was sensing was Vin's love for Alexandra Styles. He guessed early on that his friend harboured some intense feelings for the operative but even Chris was somewhat staggered by the power of it. It was rather disorientating if not a little embarrassing. Chris had no wish to intrude on Vin's private emotions but he had to...

* * *

Vin lips were still feasting on Alex's own, his hands were gliding down her curves, exploring her body like a man lost while her knee was hooked around his hip, pulling them closer to each other. Her body arched languidly into his and he could feel her melding perfectly against him as if they were made for him. His mouth fell upon her hungrily, wanting to take all it could from her because everything was not nearly enough when it came to her. The smell of her, the way she moaned as he nibbled on her neck, he never wanted to stop experiencing her this way. His senses were alive with everything that was Alex and for the first time in his life, he felt truly completed.

 _Vin_.

Vin's eyes flew wide open as he heard a voice in his head that was definitely not his. He disengaged his lips from Alex and gulped.

"Chris?" He spoke out loud even though he was thinking it.

"What?" Alex stopped short, looking at him in question at why he had suddenly stopped his delightful ministrations. 

 _Vin, this really isn't the time for this._  

Vin swallowed hard and almost scrambled off the bed realizing Chris had been in his head trying to communicate and had a very good idea what he and Alex was doing. Alex was staring at him in confusion after seeing him pull right away from her and Vin knew he would have to explain himself later although he doubted she was going to be any more happier about it than he. 

"Sorry," Vin replied, thoroughly embarrassed and was gratified when he sensed Chris feeling just as awkward and was eager to get past the moment. He glanced at Alex and let out a deep sigh. "We'll have to continue this later. I feel Chris in my head."

Alex's eyes widened in shock and then embarrassment. She was infinitely grateful her colour hid the furious blush of her cheeks. "I think that would be a good idea," Alex muttered straightening her clothes and trying not to feel as mortified as she was about Chris Larabee being an unwitting observer to their passions. "Much later."

Vin looked at her and said firmly with a little. "You can count on that."


	12. Race

It was race day.

Despite being considered a barren wasteland in the backwater of space, Tatooine knew how to provide the pageantry necessary to make their race day something of a spectacle. Although Mos Eisley appeared to him to be rather worn and lacking in any atmosphere, all that changed on the day of the race. People were out in force; faces usually dour and grim at having to exist on such a harsh, uncompromising world, were filled with excitement and enthusiasm for the coming festivities. There was a kinetic energy moving in tandem with the people on the street as they made their way to the stadium where the race would begin.

Peddlers set up their stalls to take advantage of the crowds coming out today; adding to the already festive atmosphere flanked the road to the Stadium. Merchandise of every kind was being sold, expensive fabrics, trinkets, pottery, salvaged and most likely stolen ship parts, toys and eve life stock. Aromas from exotic foods that could be eaten at the stalls of their cooking or taken away drifted through the meandering streets and side alleys to give Mos Eisley a more enchanting scent than its usual stench of bantha manure. It was hard not to get caught up in the fanfare of the moment when one saw children of different races chattering happily among themselves as they went either with their parents or in large groups, waving flags of their favourite racers.

The stadium where the race would begin was filled to the brim with spectators. They came in all sizes and all species; eyes fixed on the pre race preparations being carried out at center court. Chris Larabee, who stowed away with the rest of Jabba's entourage, peered down at the collection of vehicles in an effort to see JD. The young man was there of course, along with the pod he would be racing and the mechanic who had built it. Although it appeared as if he was focussed on the race ahead, Chris could tell JD's mind was far from it. The young man was staring at Jabba's private viewing gallery, trying to see if his friends even though they would be little more than small specks from that distance.

Chris remained hidden among the bulk of Jabba's entourage, keeping a close eye on Vin, Alex and Mary who would be viewing the race from within Jabba's gallery. So far his Jedi abilities had managed to keep his presence anonymous although he knew the time was coming when he would have to make his move. So far, Chris had come to the conclusion JD's plan of escaping in a pod during the race was a good one. The only thing he had to do was to ensure that when the time came, Jabba's men would have little opportunity to go after the young man. The _Tracker_ was awaiting them in Mos Eisley's spaceport and JD had been instructed telepathically by Chris the night before to make his way there following his divergence from the rest of the contestants in the pod race.

The only thing that really concerned Chris at this time was the tracer JD had been unfortunately fitted with. JD's attempts to remove it had proved unsuccessful and Chris recalled Vin saying such devices were extremely difficult to remove. The only way to really ensure the tracer's safe removal was for JD to be beyond the range of the activation device when he escaped. Somehow, they had to keep Jabba from detonating the tracer once learning JD made his escape. As much as Chris disliked the idea, Vin was the only one who could keep that from happening because he was closest to Jabba. It would be up to Chris to get Mary and Alex out of harms way once Vin made his move.

His attention was momentarily distracted by the voice of the race announcer suddenly blaring through the audio amps placed throughout the stadium. Chris shifted his gaze to the racetrack and saw the pods being moved into place in a neat row. Mechanics were reluctantly pulling themselves away from the vehicles while the racers themselves started climbing into cockpit. JD's eyes searched once again for any sight of his friends before he too disappeared into the cockpit of Kah's prized masterpiece. He was one of two humans participating in the race and Chris hoped he was nearly as good as he believed this to be. All this would be for nothing if JD crashed.

There were easily a dozen pods, all ranging in colour, size and sophistication. All were unique in their design even though the fundamentals of pod racing had to be adhered to. They made a curious line of vessels and as the race official at the starter raised a dark green flag and waved it around, each pod began to ignite its engines. The powerful sound of combustion, charged ions and all other modes of propulsion employed by these vessels filled the air with a near deafening roar amplified by the stadium’s design. The activation of the engines ignited the crowd’s enthusiasm with a cheer that equalled the powerful intensity of the engines firing. Previously they had rumbled with impatience waiting for the event to begin but the pods coming to life seemed to infuse them with similar animation and now Chris could see their attention fixed singularly on the race about to begin. 

The revving of engines died down to a low rumble kicked up dust clouds and filled the air with the noxious smell of chemicals as the pods began to hover above the ground, preparing to go at an instant’s notice. A hushed silence fell over the stands as the spectators waited with abated breath for the signal to go. Chris saw JD inside the cabin of his pod; his eyes fixed on the path ahead, oblivious to all other contestants. Good, Chris thought to himself. He was focussing on what he had to do instead of the other competitors. If he could have finished the race that tactic would most likely win it and Chris could understand why JD was one of the best gunners in the rebel fleet when he displayed this kind of concentration.

Suddenly a bright orange flag appeared from the corner of the track, it’s colouring a stark contrast to the dull hues of the dirt ground. Its appearance precipitated all kinds of noise, an explosion of sounds that trembled the walls of the stadium in its intensity. The crowd roared with excitement as the race began and engines fired with simultaneous bursts of energy as the pods surged ahead, moving so fast that blinking would make one lose sight. Chris felt his own anticipation swell and then inflated with satisfaction as the race got underway.  

There was no leader at this infant stage of the race and at the moment, the pod drivers were more interested in navigating their crafts out of the stadium to run the course rather than make any headway for a lead. JD’s pod was lost with the others as it surged forward, carried away on a tidal wave of propulsion. There were stragglers of course, some who had been left behind because of engine failure or some other mishap. Fortunately, JD was not one of these and was fast rapidly making his way out of the stadium confines. The crowd followed their progress with wild cheering that did not seem to abate once the group left the stadium. 

With the pods departure, the spectators’ attention moved to a large screen hanging above, giving them a birds eye view of the race as it progressed beyond the stadium walls. Now in open space, the speedsters were jockeying for position and while this tactical manoeuvring was taking place, Chris made his move towards Jabba’s gallery. His personal entourage occupied the surrounding viewing boxes around the gangster’s gallery and it was here that Chris had been viewing the race so far. As he glanced at the Hutt, he could see Vin making similar moves as well. It would be up to Vin to prevent Jabba from activating the tracer when JD finally made his bid for escape.

The Jedi nudged his way past the gangster’s guests, keeping especially away from the Gamoreans guards who were also in attendance. The heavyset sentries were mediating their attention between the big screen and the surrounding area. It was their job to ensure Jabba did not come to any harm whilst beyond the safety of his fortress. However, the Gamorreans were a slow-witted lot and it was easy for Chris to get by them without being noticed. Unfortunately, it was not the Gamorreans Chris was most concerned with, rather the bounty hunter Dengar whose angry emotions were like a beacon in the night to his Jedi senses. He would not be so easy to fool. Dengar seemed to be focusing on Vin Tanner and Chris imagined the bounty hunter felt slighted by Jabba’s favouritism towards his padwan learner.

It occurred to Chris he would have to neutralize Dengar first or Vin would never be able to place himself in a position to be of any aid to JD. This was not an easy thing to do since this entire escapade relied so heavily upon timing. Neutralizing Dengar now would mean tipping their hand early. They needed JD to make his move before they could act. Chris thought quickly what he ought to do and came to one conclusion; he would take Dengar out but only after JD had broken off from the race. This necessitated a slight alteration to his own plan. Instead of going after Mary and Alex, he would instead take position near Dengar, who would surely react the minute Vin made his move towards Jabba the Hutt. Chris intended to ensure that Vin’s back would be clear when the time came to attack.

Thus for the moment, he would wait for Dengar to attack and then he would.

* * *

JD had forgotten how truly exhilarating pod racing could be.

When he had been practicing alone on the course the feeling eluded him. However, now that he was here, in the heat of competition, pushing his pod faster than it ought to be going, with competitors on either side attempting to keep him from getting any further, JD remembered with a torrent of elation, just how much he used to love the race. He was one of the four pods that had clearly staked out the distinction of being the race leaders. He slowly nudged past two of the racers and had edged into third position. Up ahead but not far enough to give him any real concerns of catching up was a Rodian in a souped Triset Booster pod, distinct by its trio of engine nacelles in comparison to the standard two. The power he had at his disposal made him formidable but JD saw his manoeuvring capabilities did not match the potential of his craft.

The leader was the only other human in the race. Surging forward in a pod that was little more than a collection of scrap metal held together by spit and will, it was painted in Corellian colours. JD had seen the boy, no more than a teenager, if that, prior to the race. A lanky boy with russet collared hair and the cocksure attitude that reminded JD so much of Buck it send shivers up his spine remembering what his friend was presently enduring for his sake. Kah claimed the odds on the boy, named Solo, was fifty to one because he was just another wannabe from Corellia who was most likely to get himself killed in the first leg.

Kah was wrong. Not only had survived the first leg of the race, he was ensuring JD did not overtake him. The skill behind the controls of the pod left JD in awe. The kid was good, JD thought to himself. He was  _really_  good. Solo was keeping his pace no matter how impossible the obstacles ahead of them seemed to be and no matter how much JD tried to force his pod past him, the Corellian managed to maintain his lead and to JD’s amazement, even lengthen it. The course was a dangerous series of dips and turns through meandering rock and high walls that soon narrowed into little more than slits where a human much less a pod would have trouble passing through safely.

JD pushed his own pod harder in an effort to catch up. The others had disappeared behind him and suddenly the race had become him and Solo. Around them, high canyon walls came and went in a blur, huge boulders that allowed them only the barest fraction of space to avoid it and still the two combatants sailed through the deadly track with ease. At the stadium, the crowd was going wild over the battle as the two humans went head to head in order to reach the finish line first. However, JD and Solo were oblivious to this. All they knew for certain that one of them would win and one would not.

Reaching the return marker, the two pods arched gracefully around the signal tube, vibrant in its colour as it stood out against the sandy desert terrain. Solo's craft was still in the lead by a good pod's length and JD was determined not to let him widen the distance between them. Forcing his pod to go faster, JD knew he was in danger of exceeding the craft's capacity to maintain this spped. Already, he could see lights flashing across the console panel, issuing all kinds of warnings. The constant adjustment he was making to his trajectory was bombarding him with gravitational forces arising from such high velocity. Solo who was in the lead and maintaining a steady course was unaffected by this because of minimal changes in his trajectory; however, JD was starting to seriously get disorientated by it.

JD was almost half way back to Mos Eisley and the stadium when he came to his senses and realised what he ought to be doing was making his escape, not trying unsuccessfully to beat this demon in the pod in front him. _Damn he was good_ , JD kept muttering to himself as he forced his pod ahead, trying to catch up with this boy who handled the controls as if they were an extension of himself. JD had only been able to achieve that kind of unity when he was in a gunnery turret although he had seen it in only one other person and that was Buck.

Solo flew like Buck Wilmington, with absolute confidence he was the best.

With a powerful insight he might almost call the Force working its will upon him, JD came to another realization. He couldn't beat Solo. Even if he was willing to gamble his life and that of Buck's to complete the race, he knew deep inside he could not win. Solo was better than him and JD was a man enough to admit it. Taking a deep breath, JD closed his eyes and disconnected himself mentally from the race. It was hard to do. The compulsion to win had damn near overridden his senses but the fact of the matter was, Chris, Vin, Alex and Mary had risked themselves to rescue him and he would not let him down.

Telling himself it did not matter how this went down, JD pulled his pod away from the rear of Solo's ship and tried to believe it as he fled for Mos Eisley.

* * *

"WHAT IS HE DOING?" Jabba demanded of one in particular but it was obvious that he wanted an answer.

On the large screen before the spectators showing the race being run beyond the walls of the stadium, the crowd had stared in muted silence as the close race they had been watching suddenly became an easy victory for Corellian pod piloted by the youth called Han Solo. Jabba was confused at first wondering whether or not it was engine trouble that caused his pilot to pull away from the neck to neck competition with the Corellian, however, it soon became evident that there was none of the customary signs of malfunction. Jabba's pod had veered away from the race trajectory and altered its course to head directly for Mos Eisley's space station.

Vin Tanner had been close by watching Jabba in anticipation of this exact moment. Mary and Alex had already moved into position. Neither woman was armed as there was no way to allow for it without bringing suspicion upon themselves. The best they could do was stay out of the firing line when everything came to a head. Jabba was screaming angrily, his huge body shuddering with each furious demand to know what was happening. His guards were running to him, attempting to explain the unexplainable while Vin held back, preferring to keep watch for the Hutt's eventual retaliation.

"Where is Kah?" Jabba roared in Huttese and Vin had to admit feeling a pang of sympathy for the mechanic who would surely pay dearly for recommending JD to play the part of pod racer. "I'll have them both skinned alive!"

"He has the tracer your Excellency!" One of the Gamoreans guards reminded and Vin saw Jabba's large eyes narrow in calculation.

"The fool," the Hutt rumbled in pleasure realizing he was not as powerless to let JD escape as he thought. "He will never get off this planet alive."

Mary and Alex did not understand Jabba's words but the look Vin gave them was indication enough something was about to happen. Vin let go of Alex's chain and Mary withdrew behind one of Jabba's bodyguards, unnoticed because of the drama unfolding. He watched as Jabba reached down to the platform upon which he was resting and removed a pentagonal shape object Vin recognized almost immediately from a compartment on the floor. Even with Jabba's next to useless hands, the Hutt lord only had to twist the dial into place for the detonation device to activate.

This was what Vin was waiting for and upon seeing it wasted no time in acting. He kept his light sabre carefully hidden because Jabba's guards had taken his gun as expected. Like the rest of the Hutt's organization, the guards had no idea Vin was a Jedi, not that they would have been able to take his light sabre from if they discovered it. Especially after how long it took him to build the damn thing.

The beam of light appeared suddenly and caught everyone by surprise. Vin ran forward with Jedi abilities fully displayed and swung the blade with expert precision, slicing the device in half with a small explosion of energy as it was torn apart. Jabba let out an indignant howl as the energy burned his hand and glared at Vin Tanner in absolute disbelief. His Gamorreans guards were quick to react and immediately opened fire. Vin deflected this easily enough because the guards were sluggish and not all that accurate with their aim. Had they been Imperial storm troopers, he might not be able to deflect them as easily. Pandemonium broke out as the rest of Jabba's companions ran for cover, leaving the hired guns to do the hard work. Jabba himself had managed to slither to the corner of the gallery, trying to avoid the ricocheting blasts of energy that were spreading out in all directions.

Alex saw one of Jabba's Weequay warriors emerging from the corner of the room that led into the gallery floor, taking aim at Vin and swung the chain in her hands in his direction. The links of metal snapped easily around his weapon and Alex yanked back hard, pulling the blaster out of his reach. The Weequay screeched at her in anger but Alex did not give him much time to do anything else. She ran forward and delivered a high kick to his chin and sent him sprawling to the sandstone floor. In less than a second after that she was on him, the chain in her hand snapping around his throat in a vise like grip that blocked off his air passages. She yanked viciously and heard an awful snap as bones splintered and connections to the creature's cerebellum were severed. Wasting no time, she reached for his weapon and immediately shot off the link of chain from her choker.

"TANNER!" Jabba growled. "I will kill you for this!"

Vin was hardly listening to Jabba's tirade because for all his bluster, the Hutt was physically incapable of being a threat. The Hutts were dangerous because they were sly and conniving and usually had money for hired guns who would do their killing for them. They had neither the physical disposition or capability to do it themselves. No, all Jabba would do here was posture. The threat was not him but rather the men he surrounded himself with.

Vin never thought he would be comfortable using the light sabre to fight the way Chris did and this was the first time he had employed it in combat. It did not take the Force for him to know he was lucky to begin his initiation with such easy targets. Still, vigilance was required and he somersaulted into the air as he saw the blast from another Gamorrean weapon coming at him. Vin landed a foot away from the shooter and swung wide, the light sabre ending the threat with a squeal of agony as the blade tore through organs.

"ALEX THE DOOR!" Mary shouted. She was still unarmed and unable to reach a weapon because all the stray bolts of energy whizzing around the gallery was making it difficult to emerge from her hiding place.

Alex glanced at the huge doors and understood immediately. No doubt their shooting would bring all sorts of attention. It would not be long before Imperial storm troopers would be called to deal with the violence. Below them, the spectators had forgotten all about the race and were staring at the commotion taking place in the Hutt's viewing gallery. The operative ran forward, blasting away anyone capable of being a threat when she reached the door and fired at the controls. The metal shattered with pieces flying in all directions and Alex turned her face away, feeling hot embers on her skin from the blast. Once she was done, the panel was very much fused, ensuring anyone attempting to get into the room  from the outside would have to cut their way through.

Alex saw a Gamorrean taking aim at her when a powerful side kick from Mary landed in the guard's side, throwing off his aim as he stumbled clumsily from the blow. Mary lacked the physical strength to do any significant damage but she had kept the bulky alien from putting a considerable hole in her best friend's torso. Alex gave Mary a look of thanks and took aim. She hit the guard square in the chest and toppled him with a loud indignant scream. Once he was down, Mary relinquished him of his weapon and the two women joined up to finish what was left of the guards in the gallery that Vin had not dealt with.

"Watch out!" Mary pulled Alex down as they emerged into the open gallery and barely missed being hit by a blast of energy coming from one of the private boxes that located on a slightly lower level than the gallery itself. Both women shrunk back to safety and saw other guards from the surrounding boxes attempting to shoot Vin. The former bounty hunter was doing quite well defending himself although the margin of time where they could remain here without risking their escape was starting to dwindle. They would have to leave and soon if they were going to rendezvous with JD and get off the planet before the authorities were able to identify them and notify the Empire of their presence.

"VIN!" Mary called out to the apprentice but he was not hearing her. Vin was on the wide railing at the edge of the gallery, leaping from one end to another with the skill of an acrobat before he landed deftly on one knee and flung his light sabre at the guard that was taking shots at him. The weapon moved through air like a Catherine wheel before savagely cutting down its target. Vin heard Mary call and was about to answer when suddenly he saw a circle of red heat permeating through the doors that led into the gallery. The metal had become crimson, a clear indication someone was attempting to get through.

"You are finished Tanner!" Jabba shouted again, his eyes wide and full of fury. The blubber of his worm like form shuddering with rage as he bellowed at the Jedi. "I will hunt you down until I have your head!"

 _You and everybody else_ ,  Vin thought ruefully. At the moment however, he was more interested in where Chris Larabee was at this time.

* * *

Chris was making his was towards the gallery following the outbreak of violence.

He was a little side tracked by the large number of Jabba's guards attempting to stop a Jedi from reaching their master, unaware there another was already there. As anticipated, Chris kept close eye on Dengar, guessing the cyborg bounty hunter disliked Vin enough to be suspicious of him and was waiting for the opportunity to discredit him. The minute Jabba discovered JD had double crossed him and was making a run for the Mos Eisley space port, that opportunity came like a gift from heaven. Dengar saw Vin going for his light sabre before any of the guards in Jabba's immediate presence had any idea of it. He had attempted to shout a warning when Chris sent him sprawling with little a slight exertion of the Force.

The bounty hunter sailed through the air; scattering the unarmed members of Jabba's court and bringing the attention of those who were his guards. Dengar slammed into the hard sandstone floor, the mechanical attachments of his body making a terrible crunch when it impacted. Sparks and blue ribbons of errant energy from the power source of his cybernetic self spasmed through his body as he jerked ungainly about on the floor. Chris's light sabre flew out off his belt and landed neatly on his hand without the Jedi even reaching for him. That alone was enough to scare some of Jabba's guards into turning tail and running. The Jedi was not that much of a myth yet that they did not know what one could do in battle.

The blade came alive with a low hum in its usual understated way but it still had the power to frighten anyone in its path. Some of the Gamoreans started to fire in his direction but Chris deflected them with ease. Dengar in the meantime took advantage of Chris's preoccupation with Jabba's inept guards to make some sort of recovery following the Jedi's surprise attack. The cybernetics in his body had conditioned him to ignore pain but his sensory receptors acknowledged its existence nonetheless. His creators ensured when he was angry that rage would transcend its normal limitations and turn him into an unstoppable monster.

After his humiliating defeat at the hands of this Jedi, Dengar was very angry indeed.

He went for his weapon while Chris was distracted, very nearly taking the Jedi's arm off when he fired. Only Chris's superior reflexes averted the injury and Chris leapt into the air, somersaulting twice before landing behind the remaining Gamoreans attempting to kill him. Chris knew he had to dispense with this group quickly because now the alarm was raised, they had to get out of here and fast. It was not so much Jabba's people that concerned Chris so much but rather the Imperial troops stationed on Tatooine.

Chris did not want Vader to take an interest in the planet if it were reported that a Jedi might be in the vicinity.

Chris concentrated hard and sent two of the Gamoreans squealing past the railing. He did not see them land but felt a pang of sympathy for whomever might be beneath the bulky porcine sentries when they landed. The other two immediately started to back away at the sight of the light sabre but fear of Jabba's wrath for letting the Jedi get away overcame that reservation and they moved in to attack.

It was a fatal mistake. Chris cut them down as easily as he had done the others. Dengar once again found himself faced to face with the Jedi and this time the box was empty except for the two of them. He moved with lighting fast reflexes but the Jedi was faster, leaping out of reach of the blue streak of energy he had fired.

"Don't make me kill you." Chris said suddenly, breaking the pattern of combat.

"What makes you think you can?" Dengar sneered, his gun raised and poised to fire.

"Believe me," Chris gave the bounty hunter his most intense gaze. "I can."

Dengar found his throat going dry because the Jedi's voice made him believe it. "I can't let you walk away. Jabba will have my hide!"

"Jabba will try to kill you someday." Chris declared firmly. It was true. Chris had seen it in the man's future. Dengar would escape but barely and he had much to live for in his future.

"So what?" Dengar returned. "He won't be the first."

"There is still good in you. I can feel it. You need to stay alive. You need to stay alive for Manaroo."

"Who?" Dengar was starting to falter. The Jedi was getting to him. This was a trick. It had to be!

"Your wife."

"My wife?" Dengar stared at him in disbelief. "This is a trick!"

"Try to kill me and you will never find out." Chris said firmly. "I don't want to kill you but I will. You leave now and that will be the end of it. You kept my young friend alive. I'm grateful to you for that but you attack me and it will be the last thing you do in this life."

Dengar's weapon was poised to fire but somehow he knew the Jedi was right and a smart man knew when to walk away when the odds were against him. Not knowing what was in his head but unable to shake the imperative that survival was far more important than ego, Dengar considered his position. Jabba contracted him to deliver JD Dunne to Tatooine. He had done that. It was not his problem if Jabba could not hang on to the boy nor was he contracted to fight any Jedi. He was perfectly within his rights to walk away.

And he would.

"Alright," Dengar nodded and lowered his weapon. "Until next time."

Chris lowered his light sabre and responded with equal respect. "Until next time." 


	13. The Best

Despite the gallery being partially in the open, the smell of smouldering metal was filling the air as more of Jabba’s people as well stadium security attempted to breach the door leading into it. Between themselves, Vin, Mary and Alex had more or less dispatched all of Jabba’s guards in the room but had no wish to engage those who were cutting through the doors in order to reach their master. The Hutt did not seem the least bit concerned at being unprotected, perfectly aware that while he was alive, the trio had a chance of using him as a hostage if their avenue of escape suddenly disappeared as it seemed to be now. They could all see the hot rivulets of molten metal rolling towards the stone floor as more and more heat was applied to the doors in the enemy's efforts to open it. 

"We’ve got to find another way out of here." Mary stated the obvious as she noted the progress of Jabba's guards to reach them. They were less than ten minutes away from having the room filled with a fresh guards and Mary knew even with Vin’s Jedi abilities, those were odds she did not wish to face.  

Vin went to the edge of the railing and gazed down, measuring the distance between them and the ground. It was at least a fifteen feet drop. Thanks to the Force, he could make it and he might even manage it carrying someone else but it was not an undertaking he wanted to attempt more than once. The spectators in the stands below were scattering having lost all interest in seeing the conclusion of the pod race now that gunfire was erupting overhead. Besides, the outcome was more or less a foregone conclusion now that JD had pulled out of the race. The Corellian dark horse who appeared out of nowhere was certainly the clear winner.

From across the narrow space between the gallery and the smaller private boxes, Vin caught sight of Chris facing off with the bounty hunter Dengar. The apprentice felt a moment of fear as he saw the Dengar taking aim at his friend and wondered why Chris was not defending himself or making any attempt to move. However, seconds passed and Dengar still had not fired. Vin's confusion escalated into panic when suddenly, he saw Dengar lowering his weapon instead of firing it.

The bounty hunter and the Jedi regarded each other for a brief instant before Dengar turned away and exited the box, leaving Chris very much alone and unscathed. Vin wondered what magic words Chris had spoken to the hardened cyborg to make him withdraw but supposed it did not really matter. Vin saw Chris make eye contract with him across the space before the Jedi made a running start towards Jabba's gallery. He leapt across the distance effortlessly and left Vin in awe at how much experience he would need before he attained that level of expertise.

Chris landed on the railing, perfectly balanced as his deep green eyes scoured the area and took stock of the situation. His face became a frown at the smell of burning metal that was almost stifling. White clouds of billowing smoke was drifting out of the room and dissipating when it reached the open. However, the sting it left in their eyes told them to see how close the doors were to being breached. Vin had a worried expression on his face and Chris immediately honed in on it and understood why.  

"There are Imperial storm troopers behind that door." Chris pointed out. 

"What?" Mary stared at him sharply, her worry over their situation had suddenly reached a new degree of fear. Now she no longer concerned about being killed but rather fearful at being caught alive. 

"It doesn't matter," Vin said abruptly understanding her fear all too well. "We're getting the hell out of here right now!"  

Jabba's laugh rumbled through the air and it was a chortle of triumphant glee that filled their ears as he emerged from the shadows where he had been hiding to avoid being hit by incidental fire.

"You're finished Tanner." He rumbled in Huttese, his derision made his worm like face giving him a truly sinister visage. "You'll never leave Tatooine alive and even if you do, I'll hunt you down and kill you. You'll never be able to come near a civilized star system for the rest of your life."

"I can live with that," Vin shrugged it off but could not deny that on some level, Jabba's threat affected him more than he would like to admit. However, he was not about to give the Hutt the satisfaction of seeing Jabba had hurt him. He would give no one that pleasure.  

"Not for long." Jabba sneered. 

"Maybe we ought to just kill you now!" Alex turned her gun on him, seeing the silent pain in Vin's eyes and more than prepared to kill this overweight piece of slime just to spare Vin being branded a marked man any more then he already was. "How much do you think you're going to pay anybody if I spray your guts all over the floor?" 

"Alex," Chris said putting a hand on her arm and giving her a stern look that told her to desist. "We don't have time for this. We need to leave. Vin, take her." He ordered even though he could sympathise how she felt at the moment. Her emotions regarding Vin were easy for him to read and Chris knew she would have carried out her threat, no matter what the consequences. She cared about Vin _that_ much. 

"Yeah," Vin nodded, shaking away Jabba's venomous words because that's all it was, word. He was already a marked man thanks to the Empire and that did not stop his life from taking turns he never imagined possible. Jabba's bounty on his head could not change that any more than the Empire's had been able to.  

"Come on Alex," he deactivated his light sabre and went to the lovely operative. Sliding his arm around her waist, he gazed into her eyes and felt profoundly happy when he noticed she did not pull away. "We're going over the edge," he gestured towards the stone palisade. 

"You're kidding!" She exclaimed with just as much doubt as he had shown a second earlier. "We'll be killed." 

"No we won't," he said confidently and pulled her up against him, his hand sliding beneath her smooth thighs and lifting her into his arms. "Trust me." He gave her a little smile.

Alex was afraid but complied by sliding around his neck and holding on for dear life. She had little experience with the Force and even less with the Jedi. Putting her faith in the supernatural frightened her but if Vin said they could do it, she believed him.

"Okay," she nodded, trying to hide the quiver in her lip which betrayed her anxiety. "Just don't make us a stain." 

"Oh and thank you for that picture." Mary retorted before adding. "Now get out of here you two."  

"We'll see you on the ground." Vin called out and glared at Jabba one last time. "Jabba I'll see you in hell." 

"You'll see it long before I do." Jabba glowered. 

Vin ignored that last jibe and climbed onto the narrow ledge of stone with Alex in his arms and took a deep breath. Without saying anything further, the Jedi leapt off the edge and plunged towards the ground below. Both Mary and Chris hurried to the edge to see if Vin and Alex had made the jump safely. At the last minute, Vin used the Force to cushion his landing and the two of them rolled across the ground unceremoniously but were unhurt. Mary sighed gratefully for that before she turned to Chris as it was their turn and judging by the spread of heat across the door, they had not a moment to lose if they intended getting away at all.  

"I will hunt you all down!" Jabba growled, not about to let them leave without a final parting shot. "I will deliver you to Palpatine Jedi." 

Chris Larabee paused and looked up at the Hutt and for a moment, Jabba was frozen into silence by the steel in those eyes. As much as the Hutt liked to think he was in control, for a brief instant the gleam that surfaced in the Jedi's eyes made him regret having said anything at all, that he should have been glad just to see the back of the man. The light sabre hanging on the Jedi's belt was deactivated and Jabba wondered how long that would last. 

"I have a gift for you Jabba," Chris uttered coolly, a smile of equal malevolence as one Jabba had so often used himself to kill countless victims, crossed his face as he regarded the Hutt. "Consider it a preview of your future." 

"Chris?" Mary started to speak wondering whether there was really time for such soothsaying but he silenced her with a gesture.  

Chris stepped right up to the Hutt who instinctively tried to recoil but could not move fast enough. "Pray that you never cross the path of a Jedi again because the next time you see one of us in the flesh will the last day of your life." 

It was true. He did see it. He closed his eyes and saw a future where a Princess would prove quite irrevocably there were no chains to bind her which she could not use to her advantage. He saw a Jedi, the last of the Jedi standing before Jabba the Hutt in the final hours of his life. The name screamed at Chris with shocking clarity and the face of the future salvation of the galaxy burned itself into his memory. 

 _Skywalker_.

"What trickery is this?" Jabba snorted in disbelief. "Is that a threat?" 

"No," Chris shook his head slowly. "That is your destiny."

And with that, the Jedi swept his lady into his arms and departed, leaving Jabba unable to decide whether he had given the truth about his future or a lie whose power to frighten him was becoming surprisingly potent.

Nevertheless, he was adamant about one thing; a Jedi would never be allowed in the presence of Jabba the Hutt again.

* * *

The  _Rogue_  could not take much more of this.

How he had managed to hold his ship together in this maelstrom was beyond his ability to explain. Gravitational forces tore and pulled at the Correllian freighter as siren songs of differing frequencies tried in vain to lure the  _Rogue_  into the many singularities of its heart. The freighter was still maintaining its distance from the soul crushing destruction promised by the black holes it could not see but felt with every second that lumbered torturously by. It was a battle between David and several Goliaths with David prevailing so far through of sheer will and stubbornness of refusing to be defeated. The ship's battle was not just with the singularities inside the Maw but also had to contend with avoiding everything else being pulled towards it.

Buck Wilmington’s arms were strained and aching after hours of wrestling with his controls to keep his ship on its pre-programmed course. They were almost out of the perilous area but the Maw was not going to let them escape easily. Now they had crossed its expanse, it almost felt as if it was becoming harder and harder to navigate, as if the Maw was consciously aware their escape was imminent and was marshalling its forces in one final desperate act to ensnare them. The  _Rogue_ was screaming from a thousand wounds and yet the craft was still holding its own despite the fact it was being subjected to stresses it was never designed to cope with. Behind him, his passengers had become strangely quiet since their journey began, which was just as well. Buck did not think he had the patience to deal with their histrionics and what was surrounding his ship as well.  

Even his patience was not  _that_  infinite.

Unfortunately, with it becoming evident they would soon be escaping the Maw, the Rodian and the Gamorean were finding their voice again. With Nardo, the typical bluster Buck had come to know and loathed surface with a vengeance with the Rodian attempting to hide he ever been afraid at all, even though Buck knew better. Still, that was Nardo he supposed. Selkik was a little more reflective and clearly affected by his close proximity to what would have been a terrible death indeed. The Gamorean was rather reserved with his claims of having no fear. Buck himself was rather amazed they had come as far as they did and was not entirely convinced their safety assured yet. 

"How long until we are clear?" Selkik asked. The enforcer was trying to keep his voice neutral but Buck recognised the underlying thread of fear in it nonetheless. 

"Another ten minutes." Buck answered offhandedly, keeping vigil over the gauges on his cockpit control panel. "We’re passing the last of the singularities. The gravitational fields have started to ease up a bit. Just as well." He sighed sweeping his gaze across the stern of his ship, secretly glad she held together as well as she did and wa somewhat astonished she had not been pulled apart. There was a point when he was not entirely certain that the  _Rogue_  would not buckle under the gravimetric stresses. "My ship’s taken all that she’s going to take on this trip. I hope your Grand Admiral’s pets were worth all this."

"It was not _that_ difficult," Nardo grunted arrogantly. The familiar bluster was returning to his tone and Buck rolled his eyes in disgust.

"I think you make yourself look like a great pilot by claiming it is so difficult to cross." Nardo continued his derisive words. "Any pilot worth his salt could manage it." 

"Well," Buck felt his anger get the better off him and snapped his eyes over his shoulder to glared icily at the Rodian. "I guess you won’t mind taking centre seat. I’ve been at it for the last few hours, I could use someone taking the helm for a while. Since you seem to think that you’ll have no trouble managing it, I don’t see why you couldn't get us out of here." 

The Rodian turned a shade pale at the idea and barked back at Buck, hating it that he had been caught out. "I would not presume to try and fly this bucket of bolts of yours."

"Of course not," Buck retorted sarcastically and turned back to the controls, satisfied he had put Nardo in his place. However, something else was concerning him now that they neared the edge of the Maw.  

Buck began to wonder what Jabba had planned for him once they left the Maw. There was no guarantee the gangster would release JD and with two of his hired thugs on board, Buck had no assurance Nardo and Selkik wouldn't kill him either. In fact, he had a feeling that part of the reason Nardo had agreed to go on this insane mission through the Maw was because killing Buck Wilmington would be his ultimate reward. Buck and Nardo had crossed swords enough in the past for the Rodian to find that to be more than adequate compensation for risking his life in a venture as dangerous as this crossing. Despite himself, Buck realised he had better start thinking of a plan or he was going to be no safer out of the Maw than he was in it.

* * *

It felt odd being on the bridge of Mary Travis's ship. 

Ezra Standish never aspired to commanding a warship even though his instructors at the Academy claimed he certainly had the aptitude for it. In truth, the responsibility of so many lives, depending so much on what he did was too daunting for a young Ezra Standish whose greatest fear at the time was failing those who might come to mean something to him. Of course things changed, they almost always did and he was not so young and responsibility was something he had been accepting a great deal of late. He was commander of an entire outpost on Cordoba and somehow, he had become responsible for keeping the rebel cell in Wild Space safe from the notice of Imperial authorities. It was puzzling how one could unconsciously become that which one had been avoiding all one's life, without even being aware of it until the deed was done.  

Ezra certainly felt that way as he sat on the bridge of the  _Purgatory_ , keeping watch on the area of space which would be the most likely venue the  _Rogue_  would emerge once it crossed the Maw successfully. Even though many of the bridge crew did not believe that the  _Rogue_  would ever be seen again, especially after witnessing the awesome fury of the phenomenon from this safe distance, Ezra had faith in Buck's ability to pilot through this maelstrom. Even if he did not, he was not about to demoralize his temporary command by showing them he had lost hope in their mission. Such behaviour could be as devastating as a fleet of warships waiting to vaporize them into solar dust. No, Ezra decided, he could not show doubt in regards to Buck's continued existence and he would not.  

Besides, Ezra was gambling on the Corellian pilot because if there was anyone who could tame the Maw, it was Buck Wilmington. Even if Ezra had no faith in anyone's ability to survive the phenomenon, he had absolute faith in the fact Buck was the best damn pilot he had ever seen and there was not an inch of space the man could not master. Ezra refused to believe anything else because he had no wish to entertain the possibility he might have to go to Inez and tell her that he had failed to save Buck. Ezra tried not to think too deeply about the concern he saw in her eyes when she worried about her former husband. 

"Captain!" One of his junior officers cried out from his station.  

Ezra turned to the attention of a young female ensign who had just come on shift less than an hour ago. "What is it Ensign?"  

"I am detecting a ship at the extreme range of our sensors." The human female directed her gaze to both Chano and Ezra, her eyes wide with her discovery. 

"Boost your signal by switching to a narrow band." Chano instructed automatically, trying not to be over eager about the order even though he wanted very much to believe it was Captain Wilmington. 

"Aye Sir." She responded and let her fingers fly over her station controls as both officers waited impatiently for her to glean further data regarding the ship they all hoped was the  _Rogue_. Even though it was a matter of seconds, it felt like an eternity before she spoke up again.  

"It's a freighter," she answered with more than a little growing enthusiasm in her running commentary. She alternated her gaze from her commanding officers to the readings on the screen before her as she continued to ply them with information. "And Correllian." 

A swell of pleasure seemed to ripple through the bridge at the first positive news they received since embarking on this mission to find the rebel hero. Buck Wilmington was one of the best pilots in the Rionebell and his exploits were a thing of legend, a legend which had since become all the more glamorous now his crossing of the Maw was a matter of public knowledge.  

"Can you get a fix on its type?" Chano inquired, trying to maintain an air of professionalism even though he was optimistic the craft they detected was the  _Rogue_.  

There was a slight pause as the Ensign sought to answer him. Everyone's breath including Ezra's was held as they waited, the seconds ticking by so loudly in their ears that it was deafening. There was an air of anticipation that even Ezra was unable to escape from. He too hoped the ship was indeed the _Rogue_ , he would hate for the crew to be disappointed if it wasn't. Buck Wilmington was one of his closest friends and for a man who did not have many of them, Ezra did not wish to lose the few he had.  

"Its an Incom Corsair!" She finally exclaimed with an almost triumphant tone in her voice.  

"Yes!" Chano cried out in an uncharacteristic show of emotion as he forgot himself. A second later, he was straightening the collar to his uniform and scrambling hard to maintain the front of the professional soldier once again.  

"Sir?" He turned to Ezra unable to suppress a grin. "What are you orders?" 

"Move to intercept of course." Ezra returned that infectious smile but was still restraining himself even though the news was positive. "Take us to maximum speed." 

"Sir?" Chano met his gaze in question because they were already cruising at an adequate speed that would see them intercepting the Rogue in a matter of minutes. 

"Captain Wilmington was coerced into taking his ship across the Maw," Ezra spoke up, not only for Chano's benefit but also for that of the bridge crew. "It is highly likely the parties acting on behalf of Jabba the Hutt's are still on board the  _Rogue_  with him. If we should suddenly appear, they may react badly. Worse yet, the  _Rogue_  is still far enough away from us at this point to jump to light speed if those parties attempt to abscond. The only way we can ensure the Captain is no longer subjected to the Hutt's ministrations is to take the  _Rogue_  quickly, before they have a chance to think. Once we have taken the freighter, it would be far more expedient for them to negotiate with us if they had a hostage and alive one at that." 

Chano could not fault the commander's logic and once again decided Mary had chosen well in turning command of the  _Purgatory_  to Ezra Standish. "You know something Commander?" Chano remarked with a little smile in a softer voice beyond the hearing of the others. "I'm going to hate to see you go." 

"Thank you," Ezra said somewhat surprised and genuinely touched by Chano's words. "Commanding this ship has been interesting." 

"You're very good at it." Chano pointed out honestly. "I actually think you might be better at it than playing spy." 

"I might not be playing spy for very long if I am caught." Ezra muttered under his breath, allowing himself for the first time since this all began to think about what his disappearance these past days would do to the already growing suspicions Julia Pemberton had about him. No doubt, when he returned to the Cordoba base, she would ply him with a dozen questions in trying to ascertain his whereabouts. Julia's tenacity was something not even Chano's formidable wife Claire could keep at bay for very long. "The time is fast approaching when I think I will have to make a choice about my associations with the Rebellion. A smart man knows when to gamble and when to take one's winnings and run. I am starting to feel that I should be thinking of the latter." 

"Commander!" Someone called out worriedly and kept Chano from asking Ezra any more about his prophetic words. "There's something wrong with the  _Rogue_!"  

* * *

The  _Rogue_  shuddered again, sending tendrils of fear throughout its passengers. Emergency lights that had been silent since the ship left the Maw suddenly returned to life once again with a vengeance. Across Buck's cockpit control, warning lights blinked continuously as the shrill noises of warning danger screeched in their ears. The same powerful jolt that cut short their euphoria at escaping the Maw repeated itself with enough intensity to cause the superstructure of the craft to groan in protest at the rough handling. The forward momentum of the vessel was disrupted and suddenly the  _Rogue_  was no longer on course but drifting.  

"What's happening?" Selkik demanded, polarized by the idea they could be in jeopardy so soon after escaping the Maw. Somehow it felt like a cruel trick of fate that they should survive the trip across the hellish phenomena only to lose their lives upon returning to the relative safety of normal space. 

"Its an engine core overload." Buck snapped, not at all happy to be answering questions when he had bigger problems to deal with at this juncture. The cockpit was bathed in crimson glow of the emergency lights and it seemed to be a rather ominous shade considering the nature of their troubles. "I told you my ship was going to get torn apart going through the Maw!" 

"But we emerged fine!" Nardo quickly accused, refusing to believe that they were in trouble, not after surviving such a trial already. "We made it!" 

"We made it because my ship held together long enough for that to happen!" Buck glared at the two passengers behind him. "But she's been through a beating and a massive failure like this was just a matter of time." 

"How massive?" Selkik grunted the brow over his porcine face furrowed and he exchanged a nervous glance with Nardo. Even though he was not usually shaken, Selkik could not deny how powerless he felt when in the Maw and hated the resurgence of that same futility now. The Maw had taught him how truly fragile life was out here and the Gamorrean had no wish to die in a vacuum filled void.   

"I can't shut it down!" Buck explained frantically. "I need to be able to land to do that. The shut down connections for the core is on the outside of the hull. I'd have to go out there to do it and we don't have the time!" 

"We're light years from a landing site!" Nardo cried out, the tension in his voice indicating that he was just a hair's breath from full blown panic. 

"We have to abandon ship." Selkik stated with some measure of finality as if it were a decision he had deliberated upon heavily and no made on the spur of the moment. 

"I'm not leaving her!" Buck shouted angrily. "I'm not leaving my ship!" 

"You can stay but we are abandoning ship!" Selkik retorted, caring little about the pilot's attachment to his ship. It was after all an inanimate object. If Wilmington want to die here, that was his business. Selkik had no intention of ending his life here. He had seen the life pods on Buck's ship and had to confess that the pilot equipped his craft with the best. Any one of the two pods were more than capable of taking them back to civilized space.  

"I need your help to get this thing under control!" Buck pleaded as Selkik and Nardo leapt out of their seats, already moving out of the cockpit. 

"You can stay and die with your ship if you like," Nardo said cruelly. "It makes no difference to me." If the Rodian could have smiled, Buck was certain he would be seeing a broad grin on Nardo's face by now.  

"What about your cargo?" Buck called out to but seeing only their backs as they pushed their way out of the cockpit. 

"We can get some more." Selkik shouted as his enormous bulk passed through the doors with Nardo in tow.  

Buck stared after them and suddenly felt confused. After everything they had been through, Selkik was willing to simply abandon the yslamiri to their fate? Suddenly he was revisited by everything Selkik had told him about a Grand Admiral being involved in all this. What was the point of this entire exercise in the first place? Buck did not have long to ponder the situation closely because he faced the cockpit controls once again; he saw the signal lights for one of the life pods on the  _Rogue_ blinking its activation. The pods were a completely autonomous system from the rest of the ship, allowing initialization to be engaged in the event of significant damage to the cockpit. Buck registered two life forms entering one of the pods before the detachment sequence was initiated.  

"Look I need your help!" Buck implored into the ship's speaker, making a last ditch effort to stop his passengers from leaving the  _Rogue_. 

A burst of static preceded Nardo's curt response. "See you in hell Weelmington, too bad you'll get there first!" 

With that, the docking clamps on the pod was released, the sound of explosive locks detonating through the hull with a sudden bang. In a matter of seconds, the small capsule was surging away from the  _Rogue_  at top speed. Buck watched its progress on the small-digitized console before him. Their departure was little more than a green blip on a dark screen. A slow smile stole across his face as he started disengaging the systems he had sabotaged in order to give the appearance of danger. Lights stopped flashing and the klaxons fell immediately silent. No more than ten minutes after all the pandemonium sounded, Buck found himself in total command of his ship again, with no hint of the danger that sent Selkik and Nardo scurrying off the  _Rogue_  like frightened children. 

"That was almost too easy." He chuckled. 

* * *

"I don't understand," the ensign stared at Ezra and Chano in confusion as the readings on her terminal altered radically. "A minute ago I was reading a multiple systems failure on the  _Rogue_. I am almost certain the freighter was nearing a core implosion. Now everything is functioning at nominal." Her blank expression was followed by a unfathomable shrug of her shoulders. 

"I take it these systems stabilized shortly after the life pod was ejected?" Ezra asked, trying to keep a straight face because he had a good idea what Buck had just done. It was just the sort of thing the rogue (and he did not mean the ship) would do.  

"Yes," Ensign Ferra nodded mutely, having the feeling that this was a punch line to a joke she did not understand. "Almost immediately."

Ezra and Chano exchanged a look and both men smiled knowingly at each other before Chano turned to Ferra once more. "Can you get an accurate reading of the life signs in the pod?"

Both he and Ezra knew what they were going to find but it did not hurt to confirm it nonetheless. 

"Yes Sir," she replied facing front momentarily as she called up the information. "It looks like Rodian and Gamorean."

Another smile crossed Ezra's face and this time, he did not bother to hide it. "Ensign are we in tractor beam range of the pod?" 

"Yes Sir." She answered. 

"Good," Ezra eased back into his command chair and responded. "Lock on to the pod and bring it on board." 

As Ezra gave that order, Chano went promptly to his station and flicked a switch. "Security, I want a detail in the landing bay to secure two passengers on the life pod. Expect a hostile reaction. Passengers are most likely armed. Use whatever force necessary to restrain them." 

On the large viewing screen that afforded a panoramic view of the stars before them, Ezra saw the faint shape of the  _Rogue_  coming into view across the nose of the  _Purgatory_. Despite the chaotic readings earlier, there was no sign of any of the malfunctions that caused Ensign Ferra's concern earlier. In fact, the  _Rogue's_ trajectory and speed was somewhat leisurely as if its pilot had recently unburdened himself of some great weight. Seeing the craft infused the bridge crew with a deep sense of relief at knowing the party for whom they had made this journey was in one piece. 

"The  _Rogue's_  hailing us Sir," one of the officers announced happily.

"Put it on screen," Ezra answered and was rewarded with the image of Buck Wilmington's face. 

"Ezra!" Buck exclaimed with surprise at seeing him on the bridge of the Purgatory. "You're a long way from Cordoba. What are you doing on Mary's ship?" 

"Well apparently  _someone_  had to come and retrieve you Captain." Ezra grinned, genuinely pleased to see the smiling face on the screen. "However, it does appear you are quite capable of handling your own affairs." 

"Oh don't feel too bad, its the thought that counts." Buck said cockily before adding with grin. "Although I could have used you guys a little earlier. Hey any chance of getting my life pod back?" 

"The  _Purgatory's_  tractor beam already has it." Ezra replied quickly, putting to rest any questions Buck might have regarding the duo that just left his ship. "Might I inquire whom our security team will be greeting when it is brought on board?" 

"Yeah," the Corellian was rather pleased when he imagined the look of Nardo and Selkik's faces when they emerged from his pod to find rebel guns aimed in their face. It convinced him there  _was_  a higher power guiding things and it had a good sense of humour. "A smuggler named Nardo and Jabba's enforcer Selkik." 

"Charming." Ezra retorted. "I imagine some time in the brig will do them some good. Perhaps keeping them might be a preferable solution then cutting them loose later on. Considering how things have transpired, it may be more merciful then releasing them." 

"Seeing how this caper has gone down, I would love to be a fly on the wall when they have to explain to Jabba the Hutt how they managed to get taken by an rebel warship." Buck chuckled.

"Commander," Chano who had been called away to the communications station during Ezra and Buck's conversation returned with news to report. "Captain Wilmington," Chano stared at Buck through the view screen. "Its good to see you."

"Thanks Chano," the pilot said graciously. "Its good to be seen." 

"I've got some news for you," Chano continued, aware this would be of great interest to Buck. "We've just had word from Commander Travis that Ensign Dunne is safe and sound. Chris Larabee and Vin Tanner rescued him from Tatooine."

Buck let out a relieved sigh at the news of JD's well being and eased back into his chair. "That's good to hear." He said softly, glad that he could finally discard the fear he had felt over JD's continued well being.  

"Well Mr Wilmington," Ezra took a deep breath, satisfied that things were more or less resolved with the receipt of that intelligence from Tatooine. "I think its time we went home, unless of course you would like to take another trip to the Maw." 

"I think I'll pass," Buck gave him a look and then added. "Still," he grinned with an utterly roguish smile. "Its nice to know I'm still the best." 

  ****


	14. Chapter 14

It was almost a full day before the rebels returned to their secret base deep in the heart of the Territory.

Even though Buck wanted very much for Ezra to return with them to the base, the Commander of the Cordoba outpost sensibly declined the offer, citing it was safer for everyone if he did not know its location. With Julia Pemberton becoming more and more suspicious about him, Ezra was unwilling to risk the safety of his friends by risking their lives if he should be captured by the Empire and tortured for what he knew. Thus the _Purgatory_ returned him to Pzob where he discreetly returned to Cordoba once again. At the same time, Nardo and Selkik were also released on Ryloth so they could make their way back to Tatooine. Buck was almost sorry he could not see how they would explain to Jabba their tremendous blunder but supposed the Maw had the tendency to unnerve anyone, although he did not think Jabba was going to be very forgiving when he heard _that_ excuse.  

"So what are these things?" Nathan Jackson asked Buck shortly after his return to the Siraj base.  

Buck had removed one of the cages containing the ysalmiri in order to show the rebel captain what had been the reason for his being coerced into entering the Maw. Unsurprisingly, Nathan was somewhat sceptical that these furry little creatures could have been the sole purpose for his being forced into making such a dangerous trip. As Buck placed one of the cages on the workbench in the corner of the hangar, he noticed the little creatures immediately enchanted a small group of passers-by. It reasserted Buck's belief these yslamiri indeed had no value other than as pets. The yslamiri themselves did not like the attention and shrunk back at the first finger that tried to pat their sniffing noses. Buck could hardly blame them because they appeared unhappy at being removed from their natural habitat.

"They're called yslamiri." Buck repeated himself as he opened the cage and wrapped his hand around one of the creature's elongated bodies. He extracted the small creature from its cell and tentatively tried to feed it with some vegetables he had stolen from the mess for the purpose. He had no idea what he was going to do with them but he was certainly not letting them starve in their cages. The little yslamiri in his hand picked up the morsel of food it had been given and began gnawing on it immediately. "Some Grand Admiral by the name of Thrawn was adamant that these were taken through the Maw."

"Grand Admiral Thrawn?" Nathan asked, unfamiliar with the name. The Alliance made it their business to know every high-ranking officer in the Imperial Fleet and Thrawn was a name he had never come across before.

"Yeah that's what Selkik said." Buck answered offhandedly as he lowered the yslamiri back with the others and started emptying the rest of the food into the cage. "Some kind of master strategist. Apparently, he's non human." 

"That's impossible." Nathan retorted. "Palpatine doesn't have non-humans in the Fleet. Especially one with the designation of Grand Admiral." 

"I wondered about that." The Correllian answered as he kept a close eye on his new charges as they devoured the food he had provided  them in their cages. "Selkik was pretty sure too. He's also pretty sure this Admiral was a species he's never seen before with blue skin and red eyes and looks mostly human." 

"I've never heard of a species with those characteristics." The soldier frowned, disliking this Grand Admiral the more and more he heard about the man. "I'm going to report this to the High Command. If there's a Grand Admiral out there we don't know about, it could mean Palpatine's keeping him a secret for a good reason." 

"Hey looks like Chris and the others are back." Buck remarked as he saw the  _Tracker_  gliding into the landing pad in the distance. Technicians and astrodroids were gathering in small numbers, preparing to take charge of the ship once it had landed. "I hope JD is okay." Buck found himself admitting. "I really hated those guys for taking him." 

"Relax," Nathan answered scratching the nose of one of the yslamiri peeking through the cage and sniffing to find more food. "From what Mary says in her last transmission from the  _Tracker_ , no one got hurt and it looks like the kid convinced Jabba to keep him around by taking part in some kind of a pod race." 

"Pod race?" Buck raised a brow at that familiar with JD's prowess as a pod racer. "Did he win?" 

"Mary didn't say," the rebel captain shrugged. "I think she was mostly glad to be getting off Tatooine in one piece."

Buck did not press the issue, deciding that when Chris and the others emerged from the  _Tracker_  in a few short minutes, he would get further details regarding their dealings with Jabba, though Buck could not imagine any encounter with a Hutt gang lord to be pleasant. Still, he was grateful his friends had come away from this unscathed and JD was unharmed. That had been the worst part of this whole business with the Maw, the fact that they had taken JD in order to coerce him into cooperating. Buck would never have forgiven himself if anything had happened to the young man because of him. Fortunately, everything had turned out well but he still needed to see for himself.

Leaving the yslamiri to their meal, Buck and Nathan approached the launch pad and waited patiently while the  _Tracker_  went through the motions of disembarkation.

Suddenly from the corner of the hangar, Buck caught sight of a ravishing beauty with sultry looks and magnificent red hair walking towards them on a set of spectacularly shaped legs. She did not wear a uniform but the bars he saw on her clothes indicated she was definitely a member of the Rebellion. She met Buck's gaze with hazel eyes and the twinkle in them as she looked upon him was a clear indication she liked what she saw. Buck could not fault her for that because he certainly liked what he was looking at. He liked it _a lot_. 

"There's a new woman on base and you didn't tell me?" Buck shot a furious glare at Nathan as he saw her approach, nudging Nathan in the ribs for his trespass. 

"Hey, do I look like your dating service?" Nathan growled annoyed. "That's Captain Perkins. Our new morale officer."  

"Well," Buck grinned. "She's doing wonders for mine." 

Nathan rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Yeah I'll bet."  

"Captain Jackson," Louisa said smiling at Buck as soon as their eyes made contact, barely noticing Nathan even though she was talking to him. "I take it this is the famous Captain Wilmington?" 

Before Nathan could open his mouth to speak, Buck was already stepping forward to respond. "You can call me Buck, Captain Perkins is it?"  

"Louisa." She batted her eyes as she answered. "Louisa Perkins. I'm pleased to meet you." 

"The pleasure is all mine." Buck responded, taking her hand in his and raising it gallantly to his lips in a most gentlemanly greeting.

"I had no idea that Corellian pilots could be so charming." Louisa smiled at the handsome pilot.

"I've got lots of talents that you'll find just as charming, Louisa." Buck drawled suggestively but Louisa did not seem offended, if anything she was rather taken by it. "Has anyone given you the tour? It would be my pleasure to escort you and familiarize you with  _every_  aspect of this base." 

"Well I have seen it," she remarked coyly. 

"Not the way I show it." Buck retorted and offered her his arm.

"Now who can resist an invitation like that?" She beamed radiantly at him. 

Nathan thought he was going to be sick but had the politeness not to say it out loud. "Uh Buck, didn't you want to see how JD and the others are doing?" He reminded. 

"Oh yeah!" Buck exclaimed. "This will only take a minute." 

"Glad to see you priorities are intact Captain," Mary Travis declared as she approached with Chris, Alex, JD and Vin. "I see you've met Louisa." The ice in her voice was unmistakable. 

"I've had the pleasure yes." Buck replied, noticing some tension between the two ladies in question but quickly disregarded it when he saw JD. "Hey you!" He grabbed JD in a headlock and ruffled the boy's hair playfully, perfectly aware that JD abhorred it. 

"Quit it Buck!" JD grumbled but could not deny he was too happy to Buck safe and sound to get mad.  

"I'm glad to see you kid." Buck laughed when he let JD go. "I was worried about you." 

"Me too." JD admitted freely. "If it weren't for Chris, Mary, Vin and Alex, I'd still be stuck there on Tatooine." 

"Well Mary, it appears your trip away did wonders for your dress sense." Louisa stepped to the front of the group and let her eyes move over Mary and Alex's attire. Neither woman had the opportunity to change and both were still in the slinky clothes they had been forced to wear during their tenure as Jabba's slave girls. "I had no idea your tastes ran so glittery." 

"How would you like to be reassigned to quarters on the same level as the sanitation center?" Mary snapped. 

"You really need to lighten up." Louisa retorted and Buck looked questioningly at Nathan who simply shook his head to let it go, lest he wanted to be caught in the crossfire between two extremely formidable women. 

Suddenly, Alex noticed neither Chris nor Vin had said anything since they emerged from the _Tracker_. Both men appeared disturbed somewhat. Chris was actually the worse of the two. He appeared pale almost as if he were sick.

"Chris? What's the matter?" 

Everyone's attention turned to Chris immediately. The Jedi's breathing was shallow and it almost looked as if he was having an anxiety attack.

"I can't sense anything." He whispered. 

"Is it Buck?" Mary asked, remembering the same thing occurring before.  

"No," Chris shook his head meeting his old friend's gaze. "Its not Buck but there's something here. I can't feel anything. I can't sense any of you." 

"Chris," Mary took his arm because it appeared as if he might pass out from disorientation. "Take it easy. You're starting to panic." 

"I don't panic!" Chris hissed but the truth was, he did feel panic. It was like going blind! He had never known a day in his whole life when the Force was not with him and to feel it gone so suddenly was like being robbed of one's sight. 

"I don't understand." Alex stammered as she saw Vin with the same kind of distress on his face although the effect of this 'Force blindness' did not seem so marked on him. "You guys were fine until we arrived here on the base." 

"Something's different." Chris muttered, trying to quell the anxiety that was bubbling inside of him. "I couldn't sense Buck before but that was different. I could pull back but this is strong. I can't pull back and I can't feel anything!"  

"Chris calm down." Mary's voice said firmly. 

"Does he need a medic?" Louisa asked, all traces of smug mischief disappeared. At this moment, she sounded very much like an officer of the Rebellion.  

Buck's mind was whirling. Suddenly, he realised why a Grand Admiral was so interested in the planet Mykrr. Buck had been unable to fathom why the yslamiri was so important to the Empire, especially when they held no discernible value whatsoever. But the Chandra Fan named Elera had said something about a warning on the Jedi relic he had found which warned the Jedi to stay away from Mykrr. At first, Buck had thought it was because there was something on Mykrr that was dangerous to the Jedi. Perhaps a weapon of some sort but now, it became so clear and it made perfect sense why Chris and Vin had been affected the moment they arrive on the base. 

"Oh hell!" Buck exclaimed. "Its the yslamiri!"  

"What?" Nathan shot him a look of absolute disbelief. "Those furry little things?"  

"Yes!" He hissed and turned to Chris. "You couldn't sense me because I've been on the  _Rogue_  with these yslamiri since this all began. Come on!" Buck turned on his heels and strode towards the cages holding the animals in question, leading the others to see what he was talking about. 

As they approached the yslamiri, Chris required both Mary and JD to keep him from passing out. The sheer number of the creatures had the effect of dropping him into a sensory deprivation tank. Vin who was only in the early stages of his training felt his head swim and needed Alex's support to stand.  

"He's right," Chris managed to say. "This is where its' coming from." 

"Wait a minute!" Mary gasped, recognizing the creatures as Laurel Chase's pets during her time with the Black Sun criminal organization. "You said you felt this way once before? When you came after me at Star's End?" 

"Yes." Chris nodded, closing his eyes and trying to focus on the Force to no avail. 

"Laurel had one or two of these creatures in her fortress." Mary stated. 

"Are you telling me these cute little things are capable of rendering a Jedi completely helpless?" Alex asked with clear shock in her voice.  

"Not helpless," Vin grunted. "Just unable to use the Force." 

"That's why this Grand Admiral wants it." Nathan deduced suddenly. "With just one of these, this guy can protect himself from any Jedi that comes after him!"

"Its more than that." Mary replied, her mind grasping an even more devastating possibility. "With these creatures, he can block out the Emperor and Vader."

"But why take them through the Maw?" Buck asked. "I don't understand why I had to go through the Maw with them. It don't make sense...." 

* * *

"It makes perfect sense Lieutenant." Grand Admiral Thrawn explained from behind his desk on board the star destroyer _Nimbus_.  

The young lieutenant, freshly transferred from Coruscant, was one of Thrawn's more promising junior officers. Although Lieutenant Pallaeon was as inexperienced as they come, having spent most of his duty on warships close to Coruscant, Thrawn believed the young man had potential and requested his transfer to Thrawn's personal ship, the _Nimbus_. Those who served on the Nimbus found it an especial privilege to be working under the command of an admiral who was easily considered one of the most brilliant commanders in the Fleet even though his existence was generally kept a secret because he was non human.

Palpatine had forgone his usual rule of keeping the Imperial Navy strictly human because Thrawn's brilliance was a resource too precious to waste. His staff was unswervingly loyal because Thrawn was not merely a brilliant tactician, he was also the kind of commander that sought to teach and though he was ruthless in his dealings, he recognized and rewarded initiative, bravery and innovative thinking. That alone made anyone who served with Thrawn ready to die for him. 

Pallaeon had served only a few months on board the _Nimbus_ before he was given one of the most coveted promotions on the ship, that is being Thrawn's personnel assistant and adjutant. It was a position Pallaeon felt singularly honoured to have earned, though he wondered why Thrawn elected someone as young as he for the purpose. He even dared to ask once, only to Thrawn reply simply that he had potential requiring cultivation. It was the highest praise that Thrawn could give anyone, least of all a nobody like him.

On this occasion, he did not feel that his potential as Thrawn had put it was living up to his best, because he still felt some confusion as to the Admiral's dealings with Jabba the Hutt. Personally, Pallaeon felt that the likes of Jabba was simply beneath the Admiral but Thrawn had an agenda and his agendas usually held some intricate web of planning whose ultimate purpose was beyond Pallaeon's ability to understand, let alone conceive. 

"But we lost the shipment." Pallaeon responded, repeating the words that Jabba the Hutt used to explain how the mission went awry. 

"It was never about the shipment, Lieutenant." Thrawn said with a little smile. "I can send a squadron of my best fighters to Mykrr to retrieve the yslamiri if I required it. I did not need Buck Wilmington's ship for that." 

"Then why send him through the Maw?" Pallaeon wanted desperately to see Thrawn's overall plan. However, he was starting to realise perhaps he simply did not have the ability to think on Thrawn's level.  

"To see who would come after him." Thrawn explained, aware he had lost the young man and decided to be a little more basic. "Buck Wilmington's value to me was not the fact he could cross the Maw but rather he was the friend of Chris Larabee, a Jedi knight. I was aware the yslamiri are able to repel the Force but I had to be certain of it. I have my confirmation Larabee was unable to track his old friend because he went to Tatooine in search of Wilmington. If he had full use of his Jedi senses, he would have instantly known where Wilmington was going. The fact he ended up on Tatooine while Wilmington carried the yslamiri proves Larabee could not sense him and that is a very valuable commodity indeed." 

"So you sent him through the Maw because he'd think _that's_ the reason why you picked him?" Pallaeon ventured a guess. "Because he crossed it before?" 

"Exactly." Thrawn nodded, pleased his young protégé grasped some measure of his plan. "He was chosen because he was Chris Larabee's friend. The Maw was a convenient excuse." 

"But why Sir?" Pallaeon asked, now he understood the real purpose of the plan was to test the yslamiri on Chris Larabee. "Larabee is a Jedi. Wouldn't it be more expedient to let Lord Vader deal with him?" 

"Yes it would," Thrawn answered. "Unfortunately, at this time, Lord Vader and I are at cross purposes." 

"How so?" The young man asked, shuddering slightly to think Thrawn might be coming into conflict with a Sith Lord on _any_ issue.  

"Vader wants Larabee because of his apprentice Tanner. Apparently Tanner knows something of great value to Vader and the Emperor. While it would serve my purpose to find out what that is, I have no use for Jedi secrets. I prefer something more tangible. If Vader finds Larabee he'll most likely use him as bait to lure Tanner to him. However, I have my reasons for wanting Larabee neutralized." 

"Why?" Pallaeon inquired, unable to imagine what Thrawn would do with a Jedi knight. 

"Larabee is in the rebel enclave commanded by Travis." 

Pallaeon gulped involuntarily. "Mary Travis?"  

"You know her." Thrawn stated not a all surprised. Despite the fact Mary Travis was one of the most wanted rebels in the galaxy, her prowess as military commander was a source of some awe among the Imperial fleet. It was considered a challenge and an honour to be able to defeat an enemy of her calibre. 

"Only by rumour Sir," Pallaeon remarked feeling somewhat embarrassed at being caught out.  

"Well the rumours are true," Thrawn confirmed. "She is the best military mind the Rebel Alliance has and the Emperor has charged me to bring her in. I intend to deliver Mary Travis to the Emperor and when the time comes, no Jedi will get in my way. Thanks to the yslamiri, I now have a weapon against Chris Larabee and any other Jedi that tries to stop me. One way or way or another, I will have her."  

Pallaeon stared at Thrawn's crimson collared eyes and knew that if anyone could best Mary Travis it was the Grand Admiral.  

Wherever she was, Mary Travis had better watch out because Thrawn was coming for her.  

 

**THE END**


End file.
